


Face Your Demons. No, Really.

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [17]
Category: Avengers (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-07 19:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 62,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15225876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: Volume 15 of the 714 Universe After the time travelling shenanigans in our last volume, Kurt and Kate along with their teammates and friends do their utmost to find a way to stop Azazel before he can find himself at full power. Of course, there are other things our intrepid heroes have to face too - especially between several teams & kids!





	1. Scott And Logan Should Not Be Left Alone This Long

The fall semester had started back up at NYU, and Tyler found that he was excited to be back on campus for multiple reasons. He'd finished all of his general classes online after his spring and summer semesters were spent at home, but it would be harder to take everything online now that he was getting more into his pre-med major. Besides, Tammy was starting classes at NYU, and he was more than happy to show her around campus

They didn't have many classes in the same buildings, of course. She was studying to be a teacher, and he had all his classes in the science buildings.

But they still managed to have similar schedules, and the library and the common areas were almost halfway between their two different areas of campus. So on her first day of school, they met up for lunch while she gushed about her schedule, and once the semester went on, they were already planning on meeting at the library to study as well.

It was kind of nice — having his girlfriend on campus.

She was still excited about her classes — and her professors — as they drove back down to the mansion.

"Do you think Annie would help me with figuring out how to write these lesson plans?" Tammy asked. "It doesn't look too hard, but once I get started, I'm not sure what to put in and what to leave out."

Tyler grinned at her enthusiasm. "You know she'd love to help you," he said.

"I just don't want to make her think that's all I want to do when I see her. She was teaching me some … other stuff too."

Tyler grinned even wider at that. "What kind of other stuff?"

"Nevermind," she said, looking out the window. "Nothing earth-shattering."

He glanced her way for a second and shook his head. "Well, not everything can be as exciting as training with the team," he teased. "But I'm sure it's fun, whatever it is."

"Well, I get to spend a little time with her and K," she said, clearly trying to make it sound more mysterious than it was.

He grinned even wider as he thought it over. "Okay. I give up," he said at last.

"That's good. You should keep all that brainpower to apply to matters you can wrap your head around," she teased.

"Oh, I couldn't begin to figure you out," he teased right back. "But it's fun to try sometimes."

It took her a second, but she couldn't stop herself from grinning. "You're trouble," she said as she shook her head at him.

"That's what they say anyway," he said easily as he pulled into the driveway.

"Yeah? Who?" Tammy turned to watch his reaction more closely. "Who says you're trouble outside of me?"

He smiled easily. "Well,  _you_ mean it in a totally different way," he said. He paused, thought it over for a second, and then added, "I think Logan would like me to be  _more_ trouble, actually."

"He'd like everyone to be more trouble," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're not the one with the private lessons with him," he said with a shrug.

"How's that going? Is he harder to work with one-on-one?" she almost cringed at the thought, but she really did  _have_ to ask.

"Actually, he's not," Tyler admitted. "He's got a lot of good tips. I just have a hard time getting aggressive with him." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Is it because it's him?" She had turned in her seat so she was sitting sideways. "Would it be easier if it was someone else?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "It's hard to hit the guy you grew up idolizing, you know?"

"No, I don't know, but I can imagine it's tough," she said. "But if we don't get to team practice on time, we're both gonna get in trouble and probably teased  _forever_  about it."

"You mean they don't  _already_ tease us?" he asked, though he came around to open her door for her all the same.

"I mean your idol will join in on the whole 'what were you doing for so long' thing," she said. "And he's  _awful_ about it."

"He is," Tyler agreed. "He's even worse because he knows we, ah, we're not doing that." He turned a little pink as he took her hand and the two of them headed down to the Danger Room.

When they stepped into the Danger Room after hastily changing into their uniforms, they couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes late, but it didn't stop the teasing from starting right up as Logan checked the time and gave them both a little glare.

"You two didn't go and elope without clearin' it by Slim, didja?" he asked gruffly.

Both of them shook their heads quickly as Tammy tried for the tease and asked, in her quiet sort of voice, "Do you think we'd do that and not invite you?"

"Do I look like I'm overly worried about it either way? Get in line and let's get to work. Some of us have things to do later that don't involve making excuses and draggin' ass," he replied as Scott barely glanced up from the board and started the first sim.

The lighting was dark, and it was still enough that they could hear water dripping off of the ladder on an old fire escape several blocks over as Logan hung back and followed them as they made their way through the sim.

The kids were all primed to fight when Logan dropped the bomb on them. "No powers."

"No powers?" Tammy repeated, looking a bit worried.

"Why do people feel the need to repeat what I say back to me? No. Powers," Logan replied with a grumble. "Need to see who needs work on what, and you can't rely on your abilities all the time. It's one of the biggest mistakes  _everyone_  in the business makes." He was the only one there not in uniform — blue jeans, flannel shirt, and cowboy boots — and still, he didn't look very happy.

"Well, guys, try and keep up," Brye said with a confident smirk as she pulled out her green-tipped arrows and looked almost smug.

Logan and Scott shared a look, and Scott nodded almost imperceptibly.

"So… who are we fighting, then?" Sophia asked, looking nearly as nervous as Tammy.

"Keep walking and find out," Logan told them. "I'm here to observe. So don't expect me to step in and pull your back end out of the fire."

The older kids — Tommy and Cassie — shared a look as Tommy looked physically pained at the thought of not being able to run around.

"Stop with the long faces. Learn this now before you end up freakin' helpless in a collar or a dampener field. I want you to be able to beat them back no matter what the damn circumstances are."

"He'll be okay eventually," Cassie teased before Hisako spotted the first sign of who they would be fighting — a couple black-clad ninjas.

"Oh, I see," Hisako said with a quiet smirk. "This is what happens when you put out the right bait."

Logan chuckled and lit up a cigar — the signal for Scott to start the sim in earnest. "Don't use the bait unless you're ready to deal with what comes next."

With that, the ninjas started to pour onto the streets around them, and when Tommy rushed over to hit one of them, he let out a groan of frustration. "I  _hate_ being this slow!" he announced.

"Keep your hands up and you'll be fine," Logan advised, leaning against a light post and smoking.

Brye smirked and shot an arrow through one of the ninjas right by Tommy. "Too slow," she teased him with a reckless grin. She spun around and shot him a little cocky salute as well as Logan glanced up at the booth where Scott was with a smirk.

One of the ninjas literally came out of nowhere — sword drawn and going right for her — but she saw him at the last possible second and spun out of his way, trying to keep the ninja from cutting her bow, holding it behind her only to startle when she heard an odd twang and the bow vibrated hard in her hands as if a rubber band had been cut.

"Oops," Logan said, unconcerned as Brye realized that he'd cut her bowstring.

"Hey!" Brye spun to face him with a glare.

"I forgot. No weapons," he told her easily. "Watch your back."

"Rude," she muttered under her breath, still glaring as she turned back to start fighting ninjas hand-to-hand.

Sophia and Tammy were working together, as it was clear that neither of them were confident in their hand-to-hand abilities. And it was also clear that Tyler was making a point to take the heat off of the two girls as he grabbed a ninja who had tried to sneak up on Sophia and pitched him across the street.

"Thanks!" Sophia squeaked.

They were starting to figure it out — with those that were better at fighting covering the others. Tommy and Rico both were plowing their way through the bad guys, and Hisako had clearly been working on her hand-to-hand; she had improved leaps and bounds.

Cassie was calling out helpful suggestions to Brye, who made a face at her. "Thanks,  _Mom_ ," she teased.

"Somebody's gotta watch out for you," Cassie teased right back.

"Besides, she secretly loves mom-ing everyone," Tommy called out before one of the ninjas managed to hit him hard in the stomach, and he doubled, though Rico managed to grab the guy with his tail and pull him away before he could do anything further.

As the kids began to work more efficiently, Logan walked around the fight slowly, watching all of them as they did as he'd asked, and mentally taking notes, even though he knew Scott had his own list he was building in the booth.

Sophia was having the most trouble, by far. Not that it was something he'd been surprised by. If nothing else, she was small, young, and used to trying to hide in the back of the pack whenever possible — not to mention her girlfriend, Brye, was cocky, confident, and liked to show off for Sophia by shielding her as much as possible.

Tammy wasn't a whole lot better though. She knew some of what Logan thought she should, but it was very quickly clear that she relied far too much on her abilities, and when faced with the need to work without them, she was easily flustered.

But on the other hand, Tyler was turning up the aggression much better — he just needed someone to protect, and the two girls found themselves with a big, strong bodyguard.

Scott frowned down at the group and saw where Logan was watching and quickly figured out what needed to be done to push them. A moment later, a fresh wave of ninjas poured out of the surrounding buildings and swamped Tyler, separating him from the girls.

"It's really weird having them run past like that," Logan said to himself as he glanced up at Scott.

The other kids rushed to try and help Tyler, and Tammy and Sophia both seemed to turn it up a notch to help their bodyguard. Sophia was fighting the way only a very short and skinny girl could fight — all but climbing onto the back of one ninja to try and pull him off Tyler as Tammy rushed to help double-team the bad guys.

The mass of black continued to pour on them, and after a moment, Scott called it from the booth. "Tyler, Tammy, and Sophia: You're out. Stand off to the side."

The three kids were finally able to move as the ninjas backed off once they were out — and focused their attention on Tommy and Rico, who were getting a little too confident, apparently.

Tammy looked frustrated, Tyler looked resigned, but little Sophia was clearly annoyed. The three of them made their way over to stand by Logan, who was still slowly smoking his cigar, arms crossed and watching critically. But when he saw the look on Sophia's face as she stood nearby, he let out a little breath and took a few steps closer to bump her shoulder. "Just gotta get a few better techniques. Spider monkey don't work too good when you're sixty pounds wringing wet."

"Most stuff doesn't work when I'm sixty pounds wringing wet," she grumped.

He nodded, his gaze still on the flustered junior team members fighting. "Yeah, but I'll show you what does."

She peered up at him with one eye half-closed. "I'm still small and scrawny," she pointed out. "And I'm not strong."

He shook his head a little before he blew out a cloud of bluish smoke. "Don't gotta be," he told her. "Just gotta know how to use their size against them. I fight guys way bigger'n me all the time."

"Yeah." She tilted her head at him and shrugged. "Okay."

He turned her way for a second. "I've kicked the Hulk's ass; trust me on this one."

"Okay," she repeated, though this time she didn't sound quite so disbelieving. In fact, she started to smile the slightest bit.

He hid the smirk well before he glanced up at Tammy and Tyler. "You need to keep your hands up," he told Tammy and then pointed at Tyler. "And you need to freakin' let loose already."

"He was doing pretty well until he got swamped," Tammy argued.

"Don't defend what you don't know about," Logan said, shaking his head with a scrunched up face. "It could have been worse."

"I've been at all his training sessions except yours," Tammy said, drawing herself up. "He does  _great_."

Logan laughed and shook his head, still watching the kids. "Says the girl that can't keep her hands up in her  _own_ defense."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "But Ty's good."

Tyler looked like he was about to tell Tammy to let it be, but just then, Tommy broke out with, "I call BS on this sim! There is no way this many ninjas exist in one place at one time ever!"

"I'll take you to Japan with me next time I go, and you can do a headcount," Logan called back. "This doesn't even touch it."

"Yeah, I've heard stories from Kate," Cassie laughed.

"I still call BS," Tommy grumbled.

"He's not joking," Scott said over the speaker. "This isn't even the tip of the iceberg. This is Logan's warm-up sim."

"What, can't you keep up, Tommy?" Brye called out, still confident even though it was clear she and Hisako were both struggling.

"Keep quiet and get to work," Logan called out. "You guys are setting some kinda record on this sim."

"So  _slow_ ," Tommy grumbled.

Still, even with the kids struggling and grumbling, they did eventually make it through the sim — even if Rico got tagged out toward the end when he tried to pull some fancy footwork to show off … and ended up falling on the wrong side of the last knot of ninjas.

After the kids got their breath and some water — as well as a few tips from both Scott and Logan — Scott called down from the booth. "Alright, get ready for the next sim. Logan, come on up here — we'll let them handle it on their own and see if they can keep from getting too distracted."

Logan nodded and turned to the kids. "You heard the man. Get ready to try and pretend you're some kinda professionals." He gave them each a look before he headed out and dropped into the seat next to Scott.

The kids got their breath and tried to look like they knew what they were doing — and in the booth, Scott wasn't even trying to hide the grin on his face as he looked Logan's way.

"What's got you grinnin'?" Logan asked.

"You'll see," Scott replied before he started up the next sim — and Logan very quickly recognized the street in Bed Stuy before the first of the tracksuits even showed their faces.

"No," he said to Scott with a disbelieving smile creeping across his face.

"Hey, it was  _your_ idea," Scott said, though he just grinned even wider. "You wanted them to be more serious. How long do you think before they crack?"

"This thing is gonna be over before it gets goin'."

"I'm betting Cassie lasts longest," Scott told him as he leaned back and watched the kids.

"Alright. What're the stakes, Slim?" Logan asked, eyes sparkling.

"Loser buys the drinks at Harry's."

"You're on," he agreed before he looked over the kids with a grimace. "Not much to work with. They're all a buncha chuckleheads." He swore under his breath. "Tommy won't last five minutes. Gonna have to go with Ty, but I'm probably buying anyhow."

"Tyler was my second choice," Scott admitted as he leaned back to watch the show.

The kids clearly hadn't been expecting the simulation to go the way it did, though the look of pure disbelief on Tyler's face when he was the first one to make a solid hit and get a loud "bro" already had the two X-Men in the booth chuckling. And, like Logan had predicted, Tommy didn't make it far at all as he was the next to earn himself a "bro" and started laughing like a loon, now actively trying to get as many "bro"s as he could as the other kids looked unsure about what the heck was going on, half of them trying to keep straight faces as they fought and the other half whispering about whether or not this was a prank of some kind.

By that time, both Scott and Logan were full on laughing, completely beside themselves — full on tears rolling down their faces as they tried to stop, but it wasn't happening with Tommy amusing himself like he was.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" Tommy shouted out between fits of laughter, clearly having given up entirely on taking anything seriously as the other kids started to break down laughing too — though to both Scott and Logan's surprise, it was Hisako that lasted the longest as she looked at the others like they were insane. She cemented her position as the only one not laughing when she looked up at the booth to see that  _both_ of their supervisors were in tears laughing as she  _tsk_ ed and rolled her eyes at being the butt of the joke.

When the sim finally died, the entire team was still in fits of giggles, and it took a long time to get any response from the booth. Finally, Scott managed to compose himself long enough to tell the team they were done for the day and to hit the showers before he started to laugh again as soon as the mic was off.

As soon as the mic cut, Logan fell apart again. "Totally worth it — I'm buyin'."

"You were right — Tommy lasted, what, two minutes?" Scott said, still though barely restrained laughter.

"Tops," Logan replied with a grin as he picked his head up off of his crossed arms and wiped a tear away with the back of his hand.

Scott was unrestrainedly grinning his way. "The look on Tyler's face," he gasped out.

"You're gonna print that, right?"

"Oh, definitely," Scott said before he couldn't help himself. "Seriously, bro. It's going to your phone."

The two of them tried to keep a straight face, but it wasn't going to happen. "Kate first."

"I want to  _be_ there when she gets it," Scott said, his shoulders still shaking as he tried to get himself under control.

"So do it over coffee in the morning when she's not awake yet," Logan suggested with a grin.

"Oh, that's perfect," Scott agreed.

* * *

Logan and K were already tucked into their spot at the table, half snuggled up as Elin played, going over the paper together when Scott came in with the twins and Annie.

The two men nodded to each other as they always did but otherwise didn't really acknowledge each other in the least as they went into their morning routine. As usual, Chance rushed through his breakfast so he could go play with Elin, and Charlie tried very hard to pretend like she didn't want to do exactly the same thing, though she was finished by the time Kurt and Kate came down with Krissy.

Logan glanced up to watch her pour her coffee and blearily lean against the counter, her eyes half closed as she tasted the first sip, topped it off and headed to the table. He glanced at Scott, who was smirking the slightest, and a moment later, the X-Men's leader stood up to go refill his own mug as Kate tried to stay awake.

Her phone was at her elbow when the alert chimed, and she peered at it for a moment with a glare that clearly said "no." She seemed to consider whether or not it was worth it to find out who wanted to talk to her as Erik sat down on her other side and Krissy immediately climbed into his lap with a wide grin as she showed him the new toy she'd gotten for her birthday as a late present from Wade — a very cute little purple stuffed elf that had likely been sewn by her "Deadpoooow-el."

Erik was appropriately aw-ing over the present when Kate finally decided to check the alert on her phone, and when she saw that it was a video from Scott called "seriously, team," she started with a slow smirk.

But it still took her a while to understand what was happening as she watched the video feed of the junior team taking on her sim. It was really more a matter of how tired she was that it took until Tommy started cackling maniacally for her to break into giggles, and once the other kids started up, she was full-on laughing as Erik peered over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow, though even he couldn't help but start to chuckle when he realized what was going on.

"Is that really the best use of the Danger Room?" he asked, despite the wide smile he had on that was impossible to fight off when Kate was  _shaking_ with laughter beside him.

But at that, Scott lost all semblance of composure and burst into laughter. Logan wasn't far behind him either, and the two of them were, again, all but gasping for breath as the sounds from the video echoed quietly across the table.

Kurt was laughing too — especially when the kids at the breakfast table started up with the belly laughs as well, clearly tickled by the laughter all around them, even if they didn't understand what was going on. And the kids seemed only to fuel their parents, who fueled the kids — until half the room was gasping for breath.

"I think it's an excellent use of resources," Kurt said over the top of Kate's head Erik's way as he tipped his head, grinning wide, at Scott and Logan still wiping tears.

Krissy seemed to think that Erik wasn't laughing hard enough, too, and she stood up so she could put a hand on either side of his face. "Funny," she said through giggles. Which, of course, had Kate dying harder, with Kurt close behind as he fell apart at the look on Krissy's face when she glanced over at her mother and beamed.


	2. Yes Means Yes

Even just a few weeks into the semester, both Tyler and Tammy were already pretty busy. They had taken on plenty for their schedules, with not only their college courses but also the training with the junior team, Tammy's unofficial "lessons" with Annie, and Tyler's work with Logan — not to mention the fact that their bishop had found out that Tammy was studying to be a teacher and asked if they would help teach the kids in Sunday School.

So sneaking even a few moments of time together was practically a miracle. Most of the time, they ended up in the library on campus or in the mansion's own library or living room — doing homework, planning lessons, or occasionally being mobbed by the kids in the mansion, who seemed to think Tyler was the second-best victim of their practice fighting after Logan.

That was how Tyler found himself pinned down by both the Summers twins and Sying — as Elin and Krissy giggled in Tammy's lap at the whole scene.

"Come on, guys, I really do have to get up now," Tyler said as the twins were sitting on his chest and Sying was 'pinning' his legs. All three of them looked incredibly proud, though for different reasons. Sying looked excited that he could even play with the older kids; Charlie looked like she was proud of how well her plan worked; and Chance was clearly just in this because it was  _fun_ and kept grinning over at the other two kids in the room and inviting them to play too.

But thankfully, mercifully, Tammy took pity on Tyler and reached out a hand to pick up the three kids telekinetically — which set off a round of giggles. They  _loved_ being able to 'fly.' Elin and Krissy rushed over as well, as Krissy chanted "Up! Up!" as Elin giggled.

Tammy shot Tyler a little grin at the gaggle of kids around her clamoring for her attention and mouthed out, "This is your chance. Run away!"

He couldn't help but laugh at her for that one, but he did duck out of the living room to head down to the Danger Room almost at a jog, only making it in time for the scheduled session with Logan — though he had a feeling if he'd told Logan he'd been pinned down by all of the kids under five in the mansion, Logan would understand.

Only ... Logan wasn't the one waiting for him when he got to the Danger Room.

"Do you always make my father wait for you like this?" Daken asked with an unreadable expression.

Tyler wasn't sure what it was about the guy that already had his hackles raised, but he bristled for a moment. "No, I try to be early if I can help it," he said.

Daken gave him a dry, appraising look before he gestured grandly for Tyler to step up. "If you can help it? So someone else is more in charge of your destiny already? That doesn't bode well for the rest of the day."

The door to the Danger Room closed, and the closer Tyler got to Daken, the more irritated he became. "My father says you're incapable of acting as nature intended. Is it from fear or some ill placed noblilty?" Daken was smirking as he said it, relaxed, and though Tyler didn't know it, he was incrementally fiddling with the young man's emotions — raising his levels of anxiety and fear, trying to find the right button to send Tyler into a tailspin. "You really do look like your father," Daken drawled out, knowing that it would further irritate Tyler.

"So do you," Tyler half growled without realizing what he was saying — and that was how their fight started. Daken smiled at his progress before he darted in and simply popped Tyler in the mouth.

"That was rude," Daken told him. "Watch your mouth around your betters."

Tyler glared at him as he rubbed his jaw and shot back in a near growl, "Good thing it's just you and me then."

"I think we might be makin' a little progress," Logan said to Hank as the two of them watched the exchange below from their spot in the control booth. "You ever see him growl that quick?"

Hank frowned slightly as he looked down. "Not outside of attacks on the mansion, no," he admitted. "I'm still not sure bringing in Daken was the right idea, though."

"He won't attack me, and I need someone he won't feel bad about roughing up," Logan explained for what felt like the sixth or seventh time. "Believe me, I've tried." He gestured down at the two of them as they circled each other. "Besides. He needs to channel it when he needs it. No better way than to practice."

Hank sighed and looked over the top of his glasses at Logan. "He's not going to be happy about having anger and aggressiveness  _pushed_ on him like your son is wont to do."

"Then maybe he'll attack me next time," Logan deadpanned, which only earned him a dry look from Hank as they watched Daken trying to push Tyler's buttons.

"He's only supposed to crank it up if the insults and general jackassery doesn't work," Logan said as he looked over the board one last time to make sure it was off. "Though yeah, I'm sure it's not how he said it would be."

Below, Daken was smirking to himself and actually  _enjoying_ the frustration and building rage Tyler had going on, but even with his cheap shots, he still wasn't able to get Tyler to attack him.

"I thought you were supposed to show me what you were capable of," Daken said. "I can get glares and dirty looks from half of this school. Nothing notable about that. Don't you have any skills beyond converting oxygen?" Daken had stopped not two feet from him as he looked up at the tall, broad blonde.

"So far all you've done is prove you know how to insult people," Tyler growled back. He was clearly poised to attack but just hadn't done so yet, half watching Daken.

"So do you need an invitation?" Daken asked. "You've proven that you've no intention to stick up for yourself."

"I don't need to prove anything to  _you_."

"Maybe not," he said with a nod. "But for someone who's spent so much time with my father… I thought you'd have more of a backbone. Or is that what he teaches? Have to keep the kids bending to his will?"

Tyler growled low. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said in nearly a snarl.

"I know it's the only way he could keep any kind of a following after anyone got to know him." He smiled a bit and let out a little laugh. "Obedient little puppies."

At that, Tyler did actually let out a snarl and backhanded Daken as hard as he could across the room. There was a loud crack that echoed the Danger Room when Daken hit the wall.

"Well, he hit him," Logan said. "Didn't expect  _that_ to work." He frowned a bit and shook his head. "And he didn't lose it and keep going."

"If you want him to keep hitting a man after he's down, you'll have to push harder," Hank said with a small smirk.

"Nope, just wanted to make sure he'd be able to let it out a little bit. He's great at holding back — but he's gotta do both," Logan said. He turned to Hank and tipped his head toward the window. "Wanna go check on him with me?"

Hank gave him a curious glance over the top of his glasses but nodded. "After you."

Logan gave him a little smile. "Of course. Think I'm gonna let you have all the fun if he's in the mood to snarl?" The two of them made their way down, and when the door opened for them, Tyler's head whipped their way as the two of them stepped into the room.

"You wanna get a little air?" Logan asked. "Or are you  _happy_ where you are?" He tipped his chin up toward Daken's still form. "He'll be fine. Noh's got the security set so he can't get out until one of us lets him."

Tyler visibly straightened up, though until that moment, he'd been glaring hard at Daken even as he was unconscious. He seemed to consider the question for a moment before he asked, "Did you have more for training outside?"

"Nah, just wanted to get you outta the pheromones he's been pumping out while he was trying to piss you off," Logan said matter of factly.

If looks could kill, the one Tyler shot at Daken would have been nuclear.

"I told him to," Logan admitted.

At that, Tyler spun his way and couldn't quite pull back the death glare all the way. "What for?" he asked.

"Because you need to be able to use it," Logan told him. "You do just fine keepin' it under wraps. You gotta learn to let it go from time to time, though, and frankly, I can't get it out of you."

"I'm not going to hit someone who doesn't deserve it," Tyler said, sounding frustrated.

"If they're actually  _asking you to_ , the rules are a little different," Logan reasoned. "But I can understand it. That's why I had Daken do his thing. If the chemical cues aren't enough — his mouth damn sure will be." The three of them had finally stepped onto the elevator when Logan finished his thoughts. "And judging by what happened when I had to go pick you up from the police station, just being an asshole isn't enough. You gotta be mad. So how can I help you practice being mad without someone like him to push the buttons?"

Tyler frowned hard as he thought it over, and it was clear he knew Logan was right. "I guess that's fair," he finally conceded, though he didn't look at all happy about it.

"If I could come up with another way, I would," Logan told him. "It just helps when you figure in that Daken doesn't want to be friendly with anyone. You don't have to like him or even deal with him unless we're working."

"At least there's that," Tyler said with the beginnings of a smirk.

"Oh, and you're off the hook for the meditation too," Logan told him. "Unless you want to go, it's not required. You're fine."

Tyler looked surprised and almost a little disappointed at that. "If it's all the same, I'd really like to keep going," he said.

"I'm always there — same time," Logan said with a nod. "That's not gonna change."

* * *

Once October rolled around and the leaves started to turn, the mansion residents turned to one of their favorite fall pastimes — betting on each other.

The big bet this year was when the little Howlett boy would make his appearance, and though Clint was  _sure_ he was getting a birthday buddy, the guesses ranged across all of November into early December. There was also an ongoing pool as to what the little guy's name would be — both betting pools were run by Peter, with occasional help from a bamf or two playing bookie in a green visor.

Whenever either of the ferals came through, though, all talk about the bets were paused as half of them were convinced that Logan and K would be spiteful and make sure everyone lost.

Logan had gone through the kitchen and given everyone in it a pretty impressive glare as all conversation had ceased when the bamf had popped in to warn them of his approach. None of the occupants had said a word, but they were all watching him until he left, staring after him until the bamf reappeared with the thumbs up to tell them he was back where he'd belonged.

"Okay," Peter said, turning back to Kate. "You have not picked a day yet."

"Well, I  _was_ gonna bet on Kurt's birthday, but he beat me there," she said with a little sparkle in her eyes.

"Well, there are still plenty of dates open," Peter said, showing her his calendar on his cell phone. "Anything that doesn't have a dot."

She looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded to herself. "I'll take the twenty-ninth," she said at last. "Might as well — that's how old I'll be end of year, so... Maybe it's lucky for me."

"You got it," Peter said as he punched in her name and her bet. "Pool is getting pretty sizeable, actually."

"Who else is in?" she asked curiously.

"It'd be easier to tell you who's not in," Peter said. "So far just Kitty and Kamala, and Kitty's out because her day was already taken." He leaned closer to her to whisper dramatically. "Even Scott and Annie have days picked out — and they bickered about it when they made their bets."

Kate fixed Peter with her most dramatic look of shock. "Our fearless leader?  _Arguing_?"

"I think it's their first spat, honestly," Peter chuckled.

"Which is impressive in itself, when you think about it," she said in a conspiratory whisper as Krissy climbed up to try to steal Peter's phone to see what everyone was so excited about.

"I'nna  _see_ ," she said as she made her grab for it.

Kate gently pried the little elfling away from Pete and the phone. "Krissy, no grabbing," she said. "Remember? You have to ask?"

Krissy pouted for a moment with her lower lip poked  _way_ out before she let out a dramatic huff. "Peeeease, Spidey. I'nna see."

"There's not much to see, pretty girl," he told her before he booped her nose. "Just a bunch of dots."

Krissy giggled and wriggled her nose before she booped him back, though when she saw the very boring calendar, she quickly became uninterested and climbed back down to go find Elin.

"She wants to be part of everything, sorry about that," Kate said, though she was grinning and laughing quietly.

"It's cute," Peter said with a grin.

"And she knows it," Kate said, shaking her head. "Drama queen, that one." With that, she reached over to ruffle Peter's hair — because she could — and then headed off to go gently redirect Sying before he could reach the girls, since Krissy was already giving him the 'don't try it' glare.

"Watch out little buddy," Peter said toward Sying. "She's got that look to her. Just like her mother. Mean."

Sying looked confused by that and shook his head 'no.' "No. Nice! I play!"

"It was the same when it was you and Noh, wasn't it?" Peter teased Kate.

Kate gave him a look over her shoulder. "When it was me and Noh, he at least gave me a shiny new bow and let me take care of things myself."

Peter smirked as the little half-Kree boy slipped around Kate's legs to offer some of his fruit snacks to the little girls. "I play?"

Elin giggled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she pushed a little car his way. He let out a little delighted laugh and plopped himself down between Elin and Krissy to play with the little toy, as the adults in the room had to smirk at the whole scene.

"Yes, we all know who really runs things," Kate said K's way — K had come back from the bathroom to sit down and watch the show.

"Peter?" K teased.

"Oh, yes. Peter. Our fearless spider-leader," Kate agreed, still smirking.

"She's just tired of that car," K said with a shrug. "And Krissy would have not answered him with anything positive." She had to chuckle to herself. "I think the other day, she meant to say 'yes' to him, but said 'no' instead — because when he left looking like a kicked puppy, she was a little confused."

"Well, she's still learning. Usually if she nods, she means yes, even if she says no," Kate laughed.

"He doesn't know that, and when she said it, I think she did nod, but she shouted the 'no'."

"They'll figure it out when they get older," Kate said, still laughing as she watched Krissy examine one of Sying's offered fruit snacks before tentatively trying it and beaming at him so wide that the little boy started to giggle.

"Did you notice Elin didn't take the candy?" K said quietly to Kate.

Kate nodded. "She got your aversion to sweets?" she teased lightly.

"That or she knows Krissy would ask her for it," K teased.

"You've met me; you've met my husband. The fact that Krissy eats anything not covered in sugar is a miracle," Kate said, still smirking.

"Pay attention, though," K said. "Elin will eat a little bit. But not if Sying has bribes."

"Krissy loves Sying's bribes," Kate chuckled quietly. "The cookies are always a hit."

"Yeah, Elin actually likes those too," K said.

Kate watched as Krissy and Sying finished off the last of the fruit snacks together and had to laugh when Krissy seemed to notice that Elin hadn't gotten any and offered her the very last one.

But Elin shook her head seriously. " _Nej, flicka_ ," Elin said quietly.

"No?" Krissy asked, her head tipped to the side.

" _Nej, nein, no, nyet,_ " Elin sang out as she kicked her toes back and forth a bit. She smiled up at her a little bit. " _Iie_."

Krissy reached over and covered Elin's mouth with her hand. "No," she said before she popped the last fruit snack in her mouth.

Kate leaned over and bumped K's shoulder with hers. "Maybe one of these days, Krissy will let him play with them without being bribed," she laughed.

"I don't know," K said. "We've both set a bad example for them."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kate laughed. "I'm a model of perfection."

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but if I don't get enough kisses, I'm cranky." K grinned at Kate. "And I  _won't_ play nice."

"Well that's true. But I hope you're not encouraging  _those_ kind of bribes for my baby girl," Kate said with as much sternness as she could muster.

"I'm not encouraging anything; I'm just saying they learned that behavior."

"At least we can rest easy knowing we're not the only ones," Kate pointed out. "You've seen Jubes and Noh."

"That's true. Still. Watch your predatory little hawkcrawler around my sparkling little angel-dusted grandbaby."

Kate groaned. "Really? You too with the hawkcrawler nonsense?"

"I'm sorry, but that one really is perfect." K was grinning. "Wade is growing on me."

"It's really not," Kate insisted. "And she's  _not_ a predator!"

'Sure she is. She gets it from her father," K replied with an easy shrug.

"He's an angel and you know it."

"I know … that he's a lot older than you compared to how much older Logan is to me. Predatory."

"Alright, calm down, John," Kate teased.

"John?" K said with almost a giggle. "Do  _not_ try to go there. Anything to defend your cradle robber."

"Excuse you," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "Nothing was  _robbed_ here."

"Oh?" K replied, clearly looking like she was ready to get  _started_ with the picking. "Maybe I do have it wrong. Maybe you're the grave robber here."

"Evil purple seductress," Kate said. "And he's not  _that_ old."

"How much older?"

Kate let out all her breath and rolled her eyes. "Twenty-three years, and you know it."

"Oh my GOD. That's … he could be your father."

"And yet I'll still go gray before him at the rate he ages," Kate said. "Tell me how that's fair."

"I don't know. I don't have that wild of a gap to compare to," K said, grinning her way.

"Oh yeah. Your gap is  _so_ much smaller," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "How many years for  _you_ , troublemaker?"

"Nineteen," she said, still grinning.

" _So_ much smaller." Kate rolled her eyes even harder at that.

"And … I gotta ask. Out of the two of us? Who was gray?" She hadn't dropped the grin, as if she  _knew_  the answer.

"You are both ageless vampires, and I hate you," Kate said without hesitation.

"If you hate me, why was it that the first thing you did when you got back was come and snuggle?"

"Clearly teenage confusion. I'm  _so_ young and emotional."

"You really are," K agreed. "With a thing for older men." She leaned her head on Kate's shoulder for a second before she popped up again. "I shouldn't be worried, should I?"

Kate rolled her eyes once more. "You've got nothing to worry about," she said, drawing a halo over her head. "I'm a good Catholic girl now."

"Yeah? How many kids did you have in the future? Enough to overthrow the old man single-handedly?"

"Only one was old enough to get away from Scott's little Hideaway for Underage Kids."

K stopped her teasing and gave her a look. "Well. You didn't say that before. What's the age gap?"

"I don't actually know," Kate admitted. "But Clint and Nat's little girl was in the field, so probably a little more than you're thinking."

K leaned toward her to dramatically take a deep, long sniff. "For now."

Kate rolled her eyes and pushed K away at the shoulders. "You're ridiculous."

"Ridiculous and could go for a cookie. Wanna split one?"

"Of course," Kate agreed. "Where do you think Krissy gets her cookie addiction from?"

"Kurt. He's cousins with the cookie monster. That's what he told the kids two weeks ago."

"They still want to know if he can introduce them to the rest of the gang," Kate giggled. "Chance wants to meet Oscar  _so badly_."

"How fitting," K said before she called out to the kids. "Who wants a little treat?"

"NO!" Krissy shouted at the top of her lungs, nodding enthusiastically and running over to where K was — which, of course, just had Sying looking very confused.

"Y….yes?" he offered, looking at Krissy.

Elin nodded and took Sying's hand to try and push him a little closer to Krissy with a grin. "Yes."

Once all of the kids had gotten cookies, Kate had to laugh as Sying looked even more confused by the fact that Krissy had been first in line and was happily munching on hers. "It's okay, sweetie," she said as she ruffled Sying's hair. "Girls are complicated. You're gonna have to learn that now while you're young."

"But really only in Katie and Krissy's case," K told him as she gave him a kiss on top of his head. "They like to make things more difficult."

"Ka-rissy?" Sying scrunched up his whole face.

"When she yells no, but is nodding? That's a Krissy yes," K told him.

But the little boy shook his head hard. "No mean no," he said very seriously.

"That's right," K said, nodding. "But she hasn't learned how to say 'yes' yet. Can you help her?"

Sying scrunched up his whole face again but nodded and said 'yes' in both English and Kree with a little giggle. In response, Elin ran through all the yes-es she knew and started to giggle along with him.

"Try asking if she wants to play with you," K suggested. "If she says no, don't play with her."

"Otay," Sying said with a suspicious look. He very carefully approached Krissy and looked over his shoulder at K several times. "I play?" he asked.

Krissy nodded. "No."

"Now ask Elin if she wants to play with you," K told him.

Sying gave her that same suspicious look for a moment and nodded carefully. "Elin? I play?"

Elin grinned at him, nodded, and very clearly said "Yes," only to half turn from Krissy and start playing with Sying.

Sying was already grinning when Elin started to play with him, but when Krissy came over as well, he started to giggle. "Play?" he asked Krissy, and she kept nodding until he scooted over to let her play with the cars too, pushing one her way before he very seriously said, "Ye-e-sss."

Krissy raised an eyebrow at Sying and nodded as she took the little car and started rolling it around, bumping it into his with delighted sound effects.

But as the kids playing continued, it didn't take too terribly long for Sying to find himself as odd man out again, and he went looking for something to use as a bribe when Noh came in to see how things were going.

Noh crouched down in front of the little boy. "Are you playing nice?" he asked gently, and Sying nodded fervently.

"Poor thing is trying to get Krissy to say 'yes' when she means 'yes' instead of nodding yes and saying 'no'," K told him. "Getting pretty close too."

"No mean no," Sying said with a proud sort of smile.

"That's right, my little star," Noh told him gently. "Are you helping Krissy learn that yes means yes too?"

Sying paused for a moment and looked sheepish. "I play," he said, gesturing toward the little girls with a look of longing.

Elin made her way over to him and very carefully handed him her cookie from earlier. She hadn't nibbled on it — just … stashed it away. When he took it, she stepped behind him and pushed on his back. "Go."

He looked at her with his nose scrunched up before he headed over to Krissy. He very gingerly held out the cookie to her to draw her attention. "I play?" he asked.

Krissy looked at the cookie for a moment. "No?" she asked, her forehead creased — now both little babies looked confused.

Sying looked over at Elin for help, looking very lost. She shook her head at him in response.

He frowned for a moment and tried holding out the cookie to Krissy again. "Yes?" he offered. "I play?"

This time, Krissy seemed to be watching him form the words very carefully. "Des?" she tried again, and this time, she also took the cookie as Sying beamed.

" _Ja_ ," Elin started to sing over and over as she climbed up on Noh's lap.

Krissy giggled and nodded. " _Ja._ Des.  _Ja_ ," she repeated, grabbing Sying by the hand to pull him over to play some more. She even broke the cookie in half to share with him.

Noh watched the whole interaction with a wide grin. "You are such a good helper, little sister," he told Elin fondly.

She took his head in her hands and kissed him on the nose. "Shush," she said before she snuggled in.

Kate laughed at that and leaned over to K. "Told you she runs things."

"No idea who she gets that from," she replied.

"It's a mystery," Kate agreed, still giggling as she watched Krissy delightedly showing off for Sying, still repeating her new words over and over again.


	3. Make An Appointment

Tammy was sitting in the hanging chair in the garden with one of the books from her general English class. She was only part of the way through  _Othello_ , but she was losing some of the light as a storm was moving in, dark and gray. There were a few little orange lights closer to the house, but she was so comfortable where she was that she didn't really want to leave. She was just reading with the book floating in front of her and her hands behind her head when she let out a small cry of surprise as a hand seemed to appear out of nowhere and snatch the book out of the air.

"You doofus!" She sat up quickly when she saw Tyler grinning down at her. "You scared me!"

"Hey, it's been a great afternoon so far, I've been doing everything right, apparently," he said with a little laugh as he sat down next to her.

She tried to glare at him but found it was hard to do that when he was grinning and clearly having a great day. So, she snatched her book back and lightly smacked him in the head with it. "Except for  _scaring me_ ," she teased.

"Scaring wasn't … okay. So maybe I was trying to scare you — but I was really just trying to see how well I could sneak," he said, still grinning, still in a great mood. "Sorry."

"I'm gonna put a bell on you," she threatened half-heartedly before she grinned and folded down the corner of her page in her book. "So, what's got you so happy, besides sneaking up on me and stealing my book?"

"Just been a good day," he replied with a little shrug. "I aced my test, top marks on my report, and … you know. It's peaceful here."

She grinned and nodded her agreement as she waved her hand and got the swing moving on its own, grabbing his hand with hers. "I'm not surprised. You studied your heart out," she said, sounding proud before she grinned at him a little wider. "And there's the party tomorrow night, too, so hopefully your streak will just keep going."

"We'll have to see," he said with a sly smile. "Week is rounding out the right way."

She grinned and nodded at that before she leaned slightly on his shoulder. "Think you could give me some of your luck? This English teacher is  _brutal_. I like the class, but seriously."

"You're a genius; you don't need luck," he told her easily.

" _You're_ the genius," she replied just as easily. "Gonna be an amazing doctor one day, too."

"Just trying to do it honestly," he said with a little frown. "I don't need the license to just  _fix_  people."

"Maybe not," Tammy agreed. "But like Scott and Logan keep saying, we can't rely on our powers." She waved her hand as she pulled one of the late-blooming flowers from the bushes nearby and pulled it to her. "Not that that's gonna stop us much."

"Probably not, but they're kinda right," Tyler said.

"Maybe." Tammy let out a sigh. "I'm getting my butt kicked in English  _and_ self-defense."

"Everyone gets their butt kicked in self-defense," Tyler told her, trying to reassure her. "Kate said Logan even got his butt kicked at least once."

She raised her eyebrows at that one. "So then…" She started to smirk. "Who kicks K's butt?"

Tyler laughed a little bit and shook his head. "I … can't answer that without it biting me at some point."

"Smart man," she teased.

They leaned back, enjoying their evening and talking about their classes,  _holding hands_ while one of the bamfs laid on the top of the swing, watching them with his head in his hand and his little tail swaying slowly behind him. When the conversation died down, Tyler frowned and looked up at the little bamf — he'd taken out a stolen MP3 player and had turned on some soft classical music for the young couple to relax to.

"Who did you take that from?" Tyler asked with a frown, and the little bamf giggled and disappeared in a poof of smoke, taking his stolen music with him.

"I'm sure Noh-Varr didn't mind," Tammy teased. "As long as it gets  _back_ to him."

"They're such little trouble makers," Tyler said shaking his head. "I guess we should think about heading inside," Tyler said. "You know. Before..." He trailed off.

"Before what?" she asked.

He turned his head a bit and closed his eyes to try and focus. "There's … there's a scent here that shouldn't be."

Tammy dropped her teasing smile and sat up a little straighter, frowning hard. "Want some eyes in the sky?" she offered. "I can fly up and see."

"I don't want you to make a target of yourself," he said. "Let's head in and tell Scott or Noh."

"Okay." She very quietly nodded, though she was keeping an eye out, and she had a solid hold of his arm. She was totally ready to send any bad guys flying — and very nearly did when she saw an unfamiliar face until she realized that she  _recognized_ him. "Oh. Oh my gosh." She let out a little relieved laugh. "Why's J. Jonah Jameson here?"

"I don't … why is he here?" Tyler asked with a frown.

"That's the question of the day, kitty cat," she teased. "Let's go find out, shall we? Or did you want to go back to the swing?"

"Let's see what the big deal is," Tyler said. "I kinda want to give that guy a dirty look anyhow."

"Me too," she agreed with an expression that was probably supposed to be intimidating but actually looked very adorable.

They slipped into the kitchen and right away they could hear what was going on. JJ and Cyclops were having a little bit of a showdown in the entryway around the corner. Logan and K were sitting on the kitchen counter, smirking and enjoying what they were hearing as Scott flat wasn't letting Jameson take another step further inside. When the teens looked over at the couple, K held her finger to her lips so they'd know to keep quiet.

"I've told you before — this is a  _school_ ," Scott was saying. "You can't just show up here without an appointment. We have to respect the privacy of our students."

"I just need ten minutes with those two — that's it. I'm not here in any kind of investigative capacity. This is a … a  _business_ proposition," JJ replied with a bit of heat, and Tyler could see from where he was standing that JJ was irritated at Scott's hard line. "I don't care what's going on in this place in the least. This is about my  _story_."

"If you have something business related to discuss, you can call ahead," Scott insisted.

"But I just got this stupid notification from my lawyers today, and all I want is a release to use the information I've got in those files." He looked as if it was the simplest of matters imaginable. "Five minutes."

"You can still call ahead. I don't care how long ago you got the notification. You should know how to pick up a phone." Scott had his arms crossed over his chest. "Even our youngest students know how to do that."

"Listen, I know they're back. They're  _here_... "

"And you can respect their privacy no matter where they are," Scott insisted. "This is their  _home_. Do you show up at other people's houses and demand to be let in without calling ahead?"

"Yes."

"It's not going to fly here." Scott pointed toward the door. "You can come back after you make an appointment."

"But they've been refusing my calls!" He countered at nearly a shout. "How am I supposed to arrange anything when they won't return the damn calls?"

"Call here if you're desperate, but don't show up unannounced waking up  _my_  kids with your yelling," Scott countered.

"Probably woulda got further if he'd watched his mouth," Logan whispered to K, who buried her face in his shoulder to stifle the laughter.

"You've got the number of our school. Call. Make an appointment. And  _maybe_ they'll talk to you — at  _normal hours_." Scott had on his deepest scowl.

"If he throws him out, I'm making him godfather," K told Logan with a grin that had Logan chuckling to himself.

"You're serious," JJ said, only then finally getting that Scott wasn't having any of his pushy nonsense.

"When are you going to realize I'm not going to waste my time lying to you?" Scott said, almost sounding tired.

"Alright,  _fine_. I'll … have my secretary call," he finally conceded. "But I'm  _not_ going to take no for an answer."

"Sounds like a challenge," K whispered, and Logan nodded as in the next room over, JJ turned around and complained his way out of the door — and all the way to his car.

Scott came back into the kitchen shaking his head in near disbelief. "Gonna have to screen our calls," he muttered.

"I love you, Scott," K said with a little smirk.

He matched her smirk for a moment. "He's not getting in here unless you two okay it," he said definitively. "So at least we don't have to worry about  _that_ houseguest."

"I'm just glad he didn't wait until tomorrow. I can see Bobby letting him in just to fry him with Pete's impression," Logan said, shaking his head.

"Or letting him in thinking he  _is_ Pete," Tammy said quietly with a little smirk of her own.

"To be fair, we won't be at the Halloween party anyhow," K said. "So that wouldn't have been an issue."

Tyler had lost his little smile, though, and looked a bit concerned as he crossed the kitchen to stand closer to Scott. He shook his head with one finger pointed his way. "That … is not the scent I smelled outside."

Logan and K shared a quick look before they both hopped down from the counter without a sound. "What scent?" Logan asked.

"We were outside on the swing, and Ty smelled someone that didn't belong," Tammy said, now looking distinctly worried.

Logan darted out the door and Scott made a quick lunge to grab K by the arm. "You wait here," he said with a little glare. "We can head off to the security room and see if we can spot the trouble." He didn't let go of K, and the two of them only got halfway there before he called out to Noh, who had Sying and Elin working on learning Kree. "Possible breach," he said. "Logan's looking for the scent."

"Past  _my_ security?" Noh sounded distinctly insulted as he very quickly let the little ones down from his lap and ran over. "This cannot stand. Do we know where they were? Are they still here?"

Scott looked over his shoulder at the young couple in a silent question for more information.

"The garden swing," Tyler said. "That's where I smelled it — but I don't know where whoever it was went from there." He looked a bit sheepish. "I thought it was JJ, since I didn't recognize the scent, and JJ had just pulled up."

"You two stay with Jubilee and the kids; be ready to take them to the Danger Room," Scott warned. "I'm not letting K go anywhere without supervision."

"Got it," Tyler said with a nod. Tammy was already going over to the kids, lifting them in the air so they could 'fly' to distract them from the fact that Noh was definitely agitated and already headed out the door to find the breach in his security.

"I can be trusted to hang out with my daughter, can't I?" K asked, though Scott hadn't let go of her arm yet. At that, Tammy grinned as she flew the two kids around to land them in K's arms. "You are not helpful," K told her with a tiny growl.

"Sying, kiss your grandmother. She's growling at me," Tammy said cheerfully.

Sying giggled and kissed K on the cheek before he turned to Tammy. "No growl." But that didn't stop him from kissing K's cheek again. "Love Grammy K."

"Yes, and you're very sweet, little sparkle pants," K told him before she looked up at Scott. "Think I'm gonna go busting into battle with a baby on each hip and one in the oven to boot?"

Scott had to smirk at that. "Alright. We'll let you know what we can find — but if I call in and say it's time to get to the Danger Room,  _I mean it_. Take the kids and get there fast."

"Yes, Dad," K said as sarcastically as possible before she bellowed up the stairs. "Annie, your sweetheart is being pushy again! I think he hates me!"

Scott rolled his eyes and headed out to join Logan and Noh in looking for the intruder. By the time he got out there, Noh was back from checking the garden and looked annoyed.

"They took advantage of the psionic circuits in my security," he said. "Whoever came here did not have immediate dangerous intent, or they would have been stopped in their tracks." He ran a hand over his face. "They were too  _happy_ for the circuits to think they were a threat."

"That … I don't think I understand that," Logan said as he made his way up to the two of them.

"I didn't want the security systems to stop wayward children or lost souls," Noh explained.

"Not a real issue, seein' as this place has hoboglyphs tattooed across the front gate," Logan muttered.

Noh sighed. "It's a precaution we always took on my ship when we set up on missions. But I didn't know about those," he admitted.

Logan smirked at him and shook his head a bit. "It's … something from the Great Depression. Told homeless guys where they could find a hot meal and a place to stay for the night. Nevermind."

"Well then." Noh sighed. "Still ... whoever these intruders were, there was no murderous intent, simply… excitement. Curiosity. Something else, too, but the excitement overrode the circuits." He looked at the two older men. "Perhaps this is a case of… peeking Thomas?"

Logan stared up at him, clearly in disbelief of how close — but so far — Noh was to that idiom, leaving Scott to handle it for the both of them.

"Peeping Tom," Scott said, though he didn't look like he was doing much better than Logan on handling Noh's… idiosyncrasy. "And yeah, maybe…. But let's keep an eye out. Just because they didn't mean anything harmful now doesn't mean anything for the future." He shook his head. "Everybody wants in today, apparently."

"You guys been having a lot of trouble with this stuff since … well. Us?" Logan asked.

Scott raised an eyebrow at him for a moment before he had to pause to consider. "It was more common when they were considering that stupid bill. Mild vandalism, that sort of thing. It's almost Halloween — maybe some kids came out on a dare."

"You ever gonna tell me all the hoops you had to jump through?" Logan asked with his arms crossed.

Scott shook his head. "It would take too long," he said with a smirk.

"Remind me again why you wanted us back then?" Logan replied, sounding serious again as they headed back toward the house.

"Chance missed Elin," Scott said with a shrug. "The kids were all heartbroken."

"Yeah, so next time that happens, get a dog."

"Maybe next time," Scott said with a smirk. "But you know Sying would miss Grammy K too."

"I'm sure he'd cope," Logan replied with a little scowl.

"Maybe," Scott said thoughtfully. "But Noh wouldn't. He's too old to forget his lawyer-mom or whatever it is he calls her," he added as the smirk widened.

"Whatever you say, Slim," Logan muttered. "I'm goin' to bed. Had enough of chasin' down dead ends." He looked over his shoulder at Scott. "By the way — trail went cold at the road. Not that you needed me to figure that out for you."

"What would we do without you to chase down teenagers on dares?" Scott deadpanned.

"Get a dog," he replied. "Least you can say they were pickin' on him when it bites 'em."

"Would probably listen too," Scott said.

"Yep," he agreed.

"I'll have to start coming up with names," Scott said, still smirking.

"Can't help you," Logan told him with a shake of his head. "Not my thing."

"No, we'll just make sure he goes on runs with you and the kids when they need those early morning runs," Scott said.

"Yeah, except in that scenario, I'm not here — so you'll have to walk your own damn dog."

"What, I can't have a dog  _and_ you guys?" Scott grinned outright. "I bet Elin would love him."

"Only need one or the other," Logan replied. "And Elin loves everything."

Scott paused and tipped his head at Logan for a moment. "Well…" He let out a breath. "Guess I'm not getting a dog. Can't separate Elin and Chance again. Or Sying and K." He grinned. "Too bad. The kids love playing with Lucky at Clint's place."

"I think you need to go to bed too, Slim," Logan said, shaking his head. "You're rambling. Must be a sign of old age."

"Or exhaustion." Scott shrugged. "Twins woke up at four for no reason. Just decided it was time to play." He shook his head at Logan as they got back to the mansion. "See you in the morning."

"Probably," Logan replied before the two parted ways and Noh simply had to shake his head at the two of them.


	4. Bannerman Castle

Because it was Halloween as well as Sying's birthday, Noh and Jubes were sure to ask everyone to go ahead and wear their costumes all day, which Sying  _loved_.

"Cos-tooms! Cos-tooms!" he declared happily the more people arrived for his birthday party. He wanted to meet everyone as they arrived, and he was certainly faster than most kids his size and age. But he was moving faster than he was quite able to contain himself and skidded and fell a few times, skewing his Marvin the Martian costume slightly.

When the Cage family arrived, Sying all but tackled Dani into a hug — she was one of his favorite kids to play with because she was strong enough that she  _could_ play with him. She was all dressed up in Jedi robes with a bright blue light-up lightsaber, and Sying just seemed to think that was the best thing of all time.

"Stab! Fightnin!" he said when he saw the lightsaber, and Dani grinned and nodded.

"It's a lightsaber," she explained, swinging it a bit as he giggled delightedly.

Luke and Jessica grinned as they watched their little girl proudly present Sying with his wrapped present, and he grabbed her by the hand to pull her toward the other kids.

As soon as they arrived, the Summers twins, who were dressed as Woody and Jesse from  _Toy Story 2_ , rushed over to pull Dani into their games. Krissy, dressed as Sleeping Beauty, ran over as soon as the older kids were playing, since she seemed to have decided it was her mission to make sure Sying was having a great birthday. She grabbed Sying by the hand to offer him another one of Annie's Halloween cookies — trying to return the favor of all the sweets he was always offering her. Elin, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, seemed to be doing what she could to keep Krissy in good supply of things to give Sying, too.

When the next guests arrived, Kate and Kurt — as Maleficent and Prince Phillip — greeted them at the door. Natasha had Gerry, who was wearing his X-Men uniform, on her hip as he was chatting over her shoulder with Jess, who was dressed as a vampire, though she wasn't amused at all when someone pointed out that she almost looked like she'd raided Viper's closet. Clint and Natasha seemed to be dressed as each other — with Clint in all black and Natasha wearing a purple tee shirt and jeans, which looked like a very comfortable costume considering that she was very pregnant and fairly miserable.

But those four weren't the only ones to come — Wade and little Eleanor appeared around Clint's shoulder with wide grins. Wade was in a full Gambit costume, and Eleanor had a spray-painted white streak in her hair as Rogue.

"Heya, Wade," Kate laughed as both Eleanor and Gerry pushed past into the mansion to rush over and go present their gifts and their 'happy birthday' wishes to Sying — though Gerry paused on his way past Kate to get compliments on his costume.

"Look, look — I'm an X-Man, Aunt Katie!" he called out, and she grinned.

"Just like me," she agreed, and he nodded.

"Can you guess which one I am?" he asked, bouncing slightly on his feet as he puffed his chest out and tried to look as big as he could.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Are you… Kitty?"

He giggled and shook his head. "No! I'm  _Lifeguard!_ " he said, grinning. "You can't tell because I'm so little, but Dad wouldn't let me  _pad_ my costume!"

Kate positively  _beamed_ at the little boy as she crouched down to be at his level and tweaked his cheek. "You look just like him," she said, and he looked terrifically proud before he ran over to go join Sying.

"That boy is too sweet for words," Kate told Clint and Jess before she tipped her head at Natasha. "Logan and K are in the back room watching movies and making fun of them. If you want a little quiet. He's already spoiling her rotten so you know ..."

"That sounds perfect," Natasha said, the relief obvious all over her expression. She had absolutely  _no_ poker face as the pregnancy went on, and she spent most of her time half hiding from people. She gave Clint a quick kiss on the cheek before she slipped off to go find the two ferals.

Bobby, who was giving out candy with the bamfs, grinned at the newcomers as they passed and made sure to give Gerry and Eleanor candy and compliments on their costumes.

"Daddy did my hair," Eleanor told him proudly, and Bobby looked past her to Wade, who struck his best Gambit pose, complete with a bo staff.

"I can see that," Bobby said, chuckling a little bit as Natasha's favorite bamf teleported over to help her get past the small group with candy, grabbing her hand with a smile.

Eleanor leaned forward with a smile. "You should say hi to him. He's been  _practicing_ his accent!"

"I'll bet he has," Bobby agreed before Gerry pulled her of to go play.

Of course, once Sying had said hi to all the kids who came to the party, the little guy also made it a point to toddle over to the adults to say hi as well, opening and closing both hands with enthusiastic waves hello. "Cos-tooms," he giggled.

Elin grinned at him and gave him a quick little kiss on the cheek. "Happy day," she said before she headed off toward Kurt to try to give him her little Snickers bar.

Kurt crouched down beside her. "Thank you very much, Elin," he told her with a warm smile. "Would you like to split your chocolate with me?"

" _Nein_ ," she replied, pushing it his way. "No,  _nyet, nej, iie._ "

"Well then," Kurt said as he took the Snickers bar. " _Danke_ , Elin. You are very sweet," he said before he swept her up and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

She simply giggled and snuggled in for a moment — not quite having perfected her response for him.

"Ellie!" Krissy called out to her best friend. "Ellie! Yummy!" Annie had brought out a cake for Sying, and the other little kids were already gathering to see what the little boy would do with his cake — as he was the last of their group to do this little tradition.

Sying sized up the flying-saucer cake for a long moment, seeming to study it before he very carefully shoved both of his hands into the cake and came back with handfuls of it — which he brought to Krissy and Elin. "You too?" he asked, offering them both the handfuls of cake.

Elin raised an eyebrow and reached out to take his hand, squishing the cake with him with a little giggle. "Silly," she said with a smile.

Krissy looked at the outstretched hand that Sying was still holding out to her and then at Elin before she reached out to do the same thing her best friend had done and fell into little giggles. " _Ja!_  Des!" she giggled.

Sying grinned delightedly and dashed back to the cake, pulling out handfuls to offer to everyone — even the adults. He did the whole thing so precisely, too, pulling out just enough to squish in his hands, and Peter caught the whole thing with a delighted grin.

"Grammy K?" Sying asked as he pulled out two last handfuls of cake. "Grampa Wolvie?"

Noh swept up his little boy in his arms. "Yes, we should find them," he agreed with a smile as they headed down to the room where Logan and K were watching movies with Natasha. When he came in, Natasha was already half asleep on Logan's shoulder and looking still miserable, but all three looked happy to see the adorable little boy as Noh set him down.

"Happy Birthday, sparkling angel boy," K muttered as she reached out to muss up his hair. "Are you having fun with your friends?"

Sying giggled and nodded before he held out his little handfuls of carefully-preserved cake. "You too," he said with a little smile.

"That's so thoughtful," K told him. "Logan and I can share — but I think Natasha needs some too. She looks a little sad, doesn't she?"

Sying looked over at Natasha and nodded. He held out one fist between Logan and K to smash first and very carefully tucked the second behind his back.

"I'll bet she'd love a kiss too," Logan said with a little smirk as he and K both held out their hands for Sying.

He nodded very thoughtfully before he squished the cake between both of them, giggling delightedly. Then, he carefully and one-handedly climbed up to where Natasha was to hold out his second hand. "You too?"

Natasha picked her head up from Logan's shoulder and took in a breath as she struggled to keep her emotions off her face — an act that used to be so much easier. "Of course, sweet boy," she agreed as she reached over to squish the cake with him, and then he climbed up to kiss her gently before he tried to feed her some of the squished up cake still in his hands.

When Natasha playfully pretended to bite his fingers with a little laugh, Sying giggled and pulled his hands back. "No sad?" he asked, sounding very proud, and when Natasha laughed, he gave her another kiss and then looked at K and Logan. "No sad, Grammy K. No sad, Grampa Wolvie," he reported.

"That's right; we're good for now, sweetie," K promised.

He beamed at them before he slipped out of Natasha's lap to go back to Noh, who was shining with pride. "You are such a sweet little boy," Noh told his son as he scooped him up and kissed his forehead. "Say goodbye."

"Bye bye Grammy K!" Sying called out. "Bye bye Wolvie! Bye bye Nat!" With that, Noh and his little boy went back to the rest of the party, where everyone had cleaned up the cake and had moved on to Halloween cookies and laughter — while Peter was playing hide and seek with all of the kids at once.

Krissy ran over when she spotted Sying and grabbed him by his cake-covered hand. "Play!" she said as she pulled him along, though Jubilee managed to snag them both and get them un-caked before they got too far. And Krissy giggled all the way through Jubilee cleaning her up and tried to pull away. "No!"

But Jubilee had barely gotten her cleaned up and even managed to kiss her cheek before she did the same to Sying, who patted Krissy consolingly on the shoulder. "Play?" he offered, gesturing at where the other kids were, and when she nodded, he pulled her along, very gently, until they both climbed into a cabinet to hide from Spidey together — with much giggling and shushing.

The adults in the room watched the whole thing with wide smiles as Noh and Jubilee joined them. "Your kid is made of everything sweet," Kate told them with a grin.

"Of course he is," Noh said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I mean, look at the material we had to work with," Jubilee agreed before she popped up on her toes to kiss Noh.

* * *

A couple weeks after Halloween, when Kate found Kurt, he was stretched out on the roof with his hands behind his head, just staring up at the sky, and she climbed up with a grappling arrow and dropped down beside him with a quiet smile.

"You look a little down, sweetheart," she said as she settled onto her side and gently played her hand through his curls. "Are you just feeling particularly old? You did turn  _fifty-two_ yesterday." She started to do a bit more than play with his curls as she pretended to search through his hair. "Did you find a gray?"

He laughed at that and shook his head. "No, nothing like that," he said before he let out his breath. "I was simply hoping that K and Logan's little boy would have come yesterday."

"Wanted a birthday buddy, I see," Kate said, smirking the slightest bit before she leaned down to kiss him very gently. When this kiss broke, she kept her face very close to his, letting her hair fall down around them both. "You know, if we get started now, I bet we could get you a birthday buddy another way," she teased. "Might take a bit."

Kurt grinned at her outright as he pulled her down to him to kiss her. "I thought you said you didn't know when our other little one was coming from that other timeline," he teased her gently.

"I don't," she replied. "But maybe ... maybe it wouldn't be horrible if our little elf was earlier." She bit her lip and smiled softly.

"That would certainly mess with the timeline," he teased. "Not that I would complain about it."

"Well, I don't really care about that timeline getting messed up," she pointed out as she very gently kissed him again. "We're already looking for Mystique, calling in Strange and Billy… I say screw the future and do what  _we_  want."

"That sounds like the best plan you've come up with so far," he agreed. "Still … perhaps we should wait … in case you change your mind."

"No, no," Kate said. "I've been thinking about it, and I think… Well, anyway, we'll see what happens. When we weren't trying, it took no time. Maybe it'll be the opposite when we try. We'll see," she teased.

"Or stop trying to  _not_ have another, you mean," he asked with his brow wrinkled up a bit.

She kissed the tip of his nose. "Well, the trying  _is_ the fun part," she whispered low as she lowered herself to kiss the tip of his ears and hook her fingers in the collar of his uniform to pull him that much closer.

One of the bamfs' head snapped up at a bit of muffled cursing coming from the trees. He stuck his lip out and narrowed his eyes with a little growl as Kurt disentangled himself from Kate. "Back in a moment," he said before he and the bamf both teleported to the source of the noise.

"What are you doing here?" Kurt asked before the smoke had cleared entirely, allowing the indigo to swirl around him so he could make a properly dramatic entrance.

The group of three teenagers nearly startled out of the branches they were trying to scramble down. "We — we weren't—" stuttered out one of the two boys.

"Just ... climbing trees," the girl in their group offered.

"This is not open to the public," Kurt told them, though he didn't buy their story even slightly. "And that's common knowledge. So why are you really here?"

"Just…. Just wanted to see the X-Men," one of the boys muttered, though the girl was nervously shoving her hands deeper in her pockets, her body turned away from him.

"Why?"

"See your powers," the other boy muttered. "Not on TV. In person."

He narrowed his eyes a bit and watched them all in turn, his tail swaying slowly, but the very end of it twitching irritably. "Are you mutants or …"

The kids looked at each other before one of the boys raised a hand so Kurt could better see the slightly sticky suction cups at the end of each finger. "Mutants," he said.

"Just want to see the place," the other boy muttered.

"If you were thinking of attending the school, you'd be much wiser to come back during daylight. I assume you are locals?" Kurt asked, trying to find a lie among them.

The kids glanced at each other again and shook their heads quickly. "I'm from Queens," the girl said.

"Besides," the suction-cupped boy said quickly. "We don't have cool powers. We just want to see the X-Men and the  _real_ powers."

" _Cool_ powers are not a necessity to enroll," he told them with as stern of a tone as he was able. "And I'm afraid if you're simply looking for a show, you'll have to leave."

"We just—" one of the boys started to say, but the girl grabbed his arm.

"We'll go," she said quickly.

"I'll escort you out," Kurt told her as he gestured toward the open lawn and the front gate.

Once more, the kids glanced at each other, though Kurt noticed that they seemed to take their cues from the girl; the boys waited for her to nod before they nodded as well.

Once they were at the gate, Kurt reached out to take a hold of the girl's arm — since clearly she was the one calling the shots. "If you find yourselves in trouble or reconsider enrollment, just call," Kurt told them before he made a point to hand the girl a card with the phone number for the school on it. "We don't turn mutants in need away."

The girl glanced over at her companions before she pocketed the card and nodded. "Alright. We'll think about it. Thanks," she said.

She and the other two boys all but ran down the street after that and didn't speak to each other until they felt like they were far enough away.

"We shouldn't have stopped to spy on Nightcrawler," the girl said as she panted and shook her head. "We didn't get enough pictures — not nearly as many as the first time."

The boy with the suction cups shook his head. "Yeah, but — but he said we could choose what we wanted, and we already got  _yours_." He gave the girl a hard look, and she whirled to face him.

"Because he's on the list. Don't screw this up, or we'll get fired," she said, pointing her finger in his face. "It's  _your_ fault for getting all starry-eyed."

"I was just … trying to get the pictures," he defended. "We needed all of them, and we're not … having the luck that we did last time. That's all. Don't try to pin this on me."

"Yeah, well, next time, sign me up for  _not_ peeping on the X-Men… doing… things," the other boy muttered at the ground.

"Didn't know you had a potty mouth, Cam," the girl said with a smirk. "Can't handle a hot makeout?"

"That — no." The other boy, Cam, shook his head as he and the others made it to the car hidden away on the road.

As they drove, the girl, who insisted on being called Scanner, flipped through the pictures on the phone that she'd been keeping in her pocket. They had a few pictures of Cyclops — there was one that Scanner was really proud of that a photographer would be pleased with of him tossing that cute little boy that looked just like him in the air. There were some of the junior members of the team, and a few shots of Jubilee and the Kree… plenty of shots of students and the cute little kids playing… Nothing of Wolverine and K, though. Which was frustrating, because they were high on the list they'd been given of X-Men to photograph.

There really wasn't much that they could use, which had the kids a little nervous as they headed back to the city. The shots were pretty, and they found some really great action pictures ... but… the whole point was to get pictures of  _everyone_ on the team, with emphasis on the ones on the priority list, and they still hadn't found Kitty, or Logan, or K ... and Cam had overheard someone saying Forge and Storm were gone again…

"We can't get caught next time," Scanner muttered. "If we screw this up, we'll be D-list for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah, we know, shut up," the other boy, Ozzie, muttered.

It took another little while to get to Bannerman Castle, though the kids didn't much talk to each other. When they reached the room where their employer, Dr. Essex, was waiting for them in, the wicked doctor didn't even bother turning around to speak to them. "Did you bring me what I asked for?" he asked in a slow, even drawl.

The boys glanced at Scanner, who took a deep breath and swallowed hard against her dry mouth. "We brought more pictures," she said. "We … we still can't find Wolverine or K. They don't really… come out." She pulled the phone out of her pocket nervously.

"They are more cautious than the rest," he muttered, mostly to himself. "But it's not like them to simply remain out of sight for so long." He looked through the phone, though he sneered a bit at the picture of Scott and Chance. "Unless they're not there."

"We can keep trying," Scanner said quickly. "I think they're there. I mean ... look at some of the pictures. What about that little girl with black hair?"

"She was with the little purple Nightcrawler baby," Cam piped up. "They're together  _all_ the time."

"And — and we would've had more, but Nightcrawler's little bamfs spotted us," Ozzie added.

He turned their way at that, eyes narrowed. "You were caught?"

Scanner  _glared_ at Ozzie for a moment. "We didn't ... it's not like he got mad or anything; he just… thought we were snooping and escorted us out," she tried to explain.

He looked positively furious as he rose to his full height and looked ready to tear them each into tiny pieces. "I entrusted you with  _one job_ ," he half snarled, his eyes glowing red. "Perhaps I should find more competent assistants that will  _earn_ their pay."

"Wait, wait!" Cam said quickly as all three of the kids shrank back from the angry doctor. "No, we can still — Scanner talked to him!"

"Yeah, Scanner got his business card," Ozzie added.

Scanner glanced at the boys on either side of her and nodded, digging in her pocket for the card with the mansion's phone number on it to hold it out to Sinister, not quite meeting his gaze while the other two looked petrified.

He considered her for a moment before he took the card and glared at it hard for a few long, painfully drawn-out moments. Finally, he seemed to relax all at once, and a slow smirk began to light his face up. "This would work," he said, nodding slowly. "You will enroll. Get me what I asked for, perhaps more."

"You want us  _inside_ the school?" Ozzie asked, and Scanner kicked him to get him to shut up.

"Thus far, you have failed to get me what I had asked for.  _If_ the ferals are there, then they are purposefully keeping out of sight," Sinister replied as if he was explaining it to the slowest of his Marauders. "You may have to go inside to confirm that they have returned for more than a simple visit."

"We'll call them tomorrow," Scanner promised quickly before either of the boys could say anything. "We'll get your proof."


	5. The Littlest Howlett

Kate still couldn't believe the name on her schedule at her New York office, but she was smirking to herself about it. JJ had made it clear that he wanted to get his notes organized before he even thought about finalizing a book deal, and besides that, he was reluctant to team up with her, even though, as she pointed out, most of the "how we found the information" part of the story came from her and her team.

But still, she knew Logan and K were not taking his calls and were flat refusing to play when he called the mansion. So she didn't know what he could possibly want with Bishop Publishing.

She had her feet up on her desk and was reading through a couple different manuscripts when JJ finally arrived and headed up to her office, and she smirked at him as he walked through the doors. "Fancy seeing you here," she said. "I thought this was the den of publishing iniquity, the way you report on it."

"If that was true, I wouldn't even consider trying to work with you, Mrs. Wagner," JJ replied as congenially as he was able without totally losing his cool.

Kate tried not to give away how surprised she was by the relatively "nice" JJ standing in her office, though she couldn't hide the raised eyebrows as she motioned for him to sit down. "Well, okay. What can I do for you, Mr. Jameson? Do you want any coffee?"

"Thank you, but no." He looked irritated in spite of the reasonable tone. "I'd like, if I could, to talk to you about those files you sent me."

She leaned forward with her hands folded in front of her. "Okay. What do you need?" she asked. "I can clear anything up if you need it."

He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "I'd like to know why you'd give me those files if the possibility of using  _all_ of the information in them wasn't an option for the book."

"If you remember, we were sort of fighting an uphill public battle," Kate pointed out. "I wanted to make sure you had  _all_ the information — that was the most important thing."

"That's not exactly as I remember it — and at any rate, I can't publish most of what I have because  _your lawyer_ is blocking me with an injunction."

"Matt Murdock?" She quirked an eyebrow at him. This was actually news to her. "What's wrong?"

He looked a bit more himself as he opened his briefcase and dropped the legal order in front of her. "I agreed to this little …  _trade_ because I thought I had free reign to write it up as the facts came down. I can't use it in reference to the news story if I can't use their names or images."

She looked over the paperwork for a moment and sighed. "I can't control them. You know that. So what do you want from me?"

"I want you to talk some sense into them!" He looked flustered, and the frustration was palpable. "Or set up a meeting so I can make my case to them myself."

She watched him for a moment with one eyebrow raised and tried not to betray her amusement at how completely the ferals had yanked JJ around. "I'll talk to them," she promised. "But you know they'll probably want to take an active interest in the book, read it before it goes to print. I'll make sure they don't change anything substantive, but…" She shrugged. "I'll talk to them."

"The story doesn't have the beef behind it without the names to go with it," he said, making sure that his point was driven home.

"I know," she said, waving him off. "Don't you think I've heard the same thing from  _my_ marketing department?" She leaned forward. "I'll talk to them. I will. But it is still  _their_ story, so we have to respect that." With that, she let a small smile pass over her face. "We've got some ideas for the cover, though — for when they let us go to print. Do you want me to email you the .jpegs?"

"Are they the ones that have no reference to who it is? Because even I don't want to look at that," he grumbled.

"We have covers for both versions," Kate said. "My design department couldn't resist starting on the version with their names intact even if it's not a sure thing yet." She gave JJ her most reassuring smile. "I'll  _talk_ to them. I promise. Try some decaf in the meantime and decompress. They'll probably want to meet up, and you should try not to look like a volcano when that happens, okay?"

JJ just glared at her before he stalked out of the room, and Kate was still chuckling to herself about it as she drove back home to the mansion, where Scott was in the middle of giving three new students the rundown of the school and what would be expected of them.

"Ooh, new kids." Kate all but skipped over to where they were and grinned at Scott. "Where'd you find 'em?"

"They found us," Scott said. "Or … they got the card from Kurt. Either way … they're here now."

Kate paused, thinking of the recent intruders, and tipped her head as she took in the newcomers, who were all sort of avoiding her gaze. "Well, alright then. I'm Kate. I teach archery and sometimes sub for alien tech," she said, sticking out her hand to introduce herself properly.

The girl very quietly introduced herself as Jana, giving the other two boys' names as Cam and Ozzie. "It's nice to meet you," Jana

"You guys all know each other already?" Kate asked, her head tipped to one side.

"We met before we enrolled, yeah," Ozzie muttered. "Sc- uh. Jana found us."

"And she's been bossing us around ever since," Cam muttered under his breath.

"I was just telling the kids they were coming in at an interesting point this year, seeing as Erik will be covering history for the rest of the semester, and self-defense is going to be rotating instructors," Scott told Kate before he turned back to the kids. "Usually it's more steady."

"Special circumstances this semester," Kate agreed with a nod, still with her head tipped. "And your name's Jana, right?" she asked the girl.

Jana nodded.

Kate just pursed her lips for a moment and shot Scott a look before she passed the kids on her way to go find Kurt and Krissy. "Don't tell them about the swimming pool on the roof 'til they earn it." With that, she slipped off to find her two favorite people.

* * *

When Storm and Forge returned from their trip together, the first person they sought out was Kurt. He wasn't hard to find, either — all they had to do was follow the sound of Krissy giggling.

The little girl was running as fast as she could on the ceiling — away from her father. She was cackling, and it was impossible not to get caught up in her joy — or in Kurt's as he chased her around, never quite 'catching' her but allowing her to think she was beating him.

He paused and smiled at both of them before he snatched Krissy up and simply started to tickle her before he dropped to the floor and flashed a smile at Storm and Forge. "I trust you both enjoyed yourselves?" he asked with a smile full of trouble.

"As ever," Storm said with a smile that widened as Forge put his hand on her waist.

"Actually, we wanted to ask you a favor," Forge said.

"Oh?" Kurt couldn't quite stop his smile, especially because he was already sure he knew what it was, given the way his friends were acting around each other. He recognized the expressions of happiness on their faces, and he was just waiting for their word.

Storm laughed. "Don't act like you don't know," she said, shaking her head. "You may be an excellent actor, my darling Kurt, but I know you far too well."

Kurt chuckled at that. "Ah, but there are some things better heard aloud."

Storm smirked. "Careful now. My first response when he proposed was to suggest that we simply  _move_. Act on our feelings immediately."

"Don't worry; I wasn't going to let you guys miss the wedding." Forge gave Storm an affectionately, falsely severe look and then stole a kiss. "It would be no good if you ran off and got married and didn't tell anyone —  _again_."

Kurt couldn't help but chuckle. "At least one of you has sense."

Storm smiled and rested her hands on Kurt's shoulders. "Only because we want you to marry us — rather than leave it to a stranger."

Kurt drew himself up taller and then flashed his teeth with his grin. "I would be honored. After all, my beautiful sister deserves only the best."

Ororo laughed and kissed his cheek. "I knew we chose well."

As Kurt positively beamed, Krissy held her hands out to Storm to be swept up in a hug, too, and as soon as Storm obliged, Krissy giggled and kissed Storm's cheek. "Kiss, kiss!" she said, perfectly pleased.

Storm smiled and ruffled her hair. "I love you too, my favorite little princess."

* * *

The three new kids at the school were fairly well swamped trying to catch up on all the classes and such that they were late coming to. There were definitely school policies in place to help newcomers, since there was no telling when any student would show up at the institute or when any one mutant would start manifesting their powers, but that didn't make the experience any less overwhelming.

Even though it was Thanksgiving Break, then, the three of them were loathe to go back to Sinister to report to him — and not just because they didn't have any pictures of the ferals. They'd  _heard_ people talking about them, but they were just so busy… they didn't have what they'd been sent for: proof of location for the mutants he was studying.

But it had been long enough that they were nervous he might ask someone else to go in — and he had promised they could get cooler superpowers.

It was just that…. This place was actually really cool. The teachers were fun, and they were nice, and Jana took to the alien tech class  _so fast_. Especially with Professor Hawkeye when she would sub for Noh when he had to take care of Sying.

"Teacher's pet," Cam said when he noticed that she was still reading over her notes from the class.

Jana rolled her eyes at him. "It's part of the cover," she said. "You know she's close to Wolverine and K."

"So is Jubilee, but you're not kissing up to her," Ozzie muttered.

Jana shot him a very angry look. "She's one of the ones on the list."

"And you can't be friendly with her why?" he replied.

"I  _am_  friendly with her," Jana defended.

"You define friendly differently to anyone I've ever met."

"Shut up, Oz, or I'll do it myself," she snapped his way as they arrived at the castle. "Besides, easier to kiss up to the teacher when you do well in class. Unlike  _someone_  in self-defense."

"We've already had two different teachers," he defended. "I can't make all of them happy."

"Me and Cam don't seem to have that problem," she said low under her breath, though they fell quiet when they got to where Sinister was waiting for them.

"How is your mission faring?" he asked in an almost conversational tone. "I trust you've made  _some_ progress."

The boys looked at Jana, who handed over her phone with a few more pictures. "Um ... should be a few more people coming for Thanksgiving," she said. "They… they said anyone who doesn't have a place to go can stay, but it'll be pretty hard not to get caught with  _more_ X-Men around."

"Anyone just coming in for the weekend will be incidental," he said with a wave. "The important part is that you're inside and gaining their trust."

"It's a lot of work," Cam said, and Jana kicked him in the shin.

"We can handle it," she promised quickly.

"Any spotting of Wolverine or his wife yet?"

"No," Jana admitted.

"But that little girl is theirs," Ozzie cut in. "For sure. I heard Sophia playing with her."

"Why is the girl there but they aren't?" he said quietly to himself before turning to the kids again. "If you can get a confirmation photo, text it." With that he waved them off, but as they were leaving, he called out to them again. "I'd like photos of the little ones. To see for myself who belongs to who."

"Do you want them with their parents?" Ozzie asked before Jana could stop him.

"That would be optimal," he nodded, smirking to himself. "But not necessary."

Jana glared at Ozzie for a second before she looked to Sinister. "It's pretty obvious from the pictures we've sent, right? I thought you were studying genetics? I mean ... they look like their parents. I know the pics aren't from the front or anything but... "

"Go," he urged. "This is a weekend that will give you opportunities for that much at the very least."

"And then we can get better powers, right?" Ozzie asked quickly.

"When I get what I require from every person on that list — yes. You'll be enhanced," Sinister said in an almost gentle tone.

The kids glanced at each other and then nodded. "We'll be back," Jana said.

* * *

It was snowing, and all was quiet in the mansion. Considering it was the weekend, no one was surprised when most of the staff got a late start, though Bobby was a bit irate when it was nearly ten o'clock and there was still not even one pot of coffee made.

He was grumbling to himself as he got it brewing and flipped the news on. JJ was on a rant — but he seemed to look a bit more strained the past few weeks, and he didn't have his full fire. Bobby was smirking at that fact when his thoughts were interrupted by Logan and K ... or … more accurately … by the little bundle that K was carrying.

"I hope you got the coffee right," she said quietly as the two of them took a seat in their usual spot. "I had an early morning."

"No kidding," Bobby said, the grumbling early morning mood giving way to shock as he stared for a moment. "What… what time? I mean ... how early?"

"He's worried about the  _bet_ ," Logan said quietly to her, and K smirked and nodded in response as Logan kissed her temple.

"I don't know if we should tell him or leave it to Hank to break the news." She looked up at Bobby with a little smirk. "Who's in the running?"

"Kate had the 29th, and — believe it or not? — Pete said  _Daken_ had today. So, if it was early enough, it was Kate, but if not…"

Logan stared at him for a moment in disbelief. "You gotta be kiddin' me. Why would he pick today?"

"I think Pete said something about a birthday present if he was right?" Bobby shook his head and shrugged. "It was probably better coming from him in person."

"Guess we'll wait and see Kate first," K said with a little sigh before she gave Bobby a little sweet smile. "Would you mind grabbing me a cup of coffee?"

"Oh — yeah, sure," Bobby said quickly as he grabbed a mug to fill it up for her, handing it to her as the first of the other mansion residents started to file in.

Scott and Annie and their little entourage were the first to arrive, with Chance and Elin hand in hand and giggling at each other. Charlie had hold of her mother's hand as she was telling Annie how much she liked having Elin over for sleepovers. Annie and Scott were so distracted with the little ones that it took two double-takes before Scott even realized that the ferals were at the table with a new little bundle — and he broke out into a huge grin.

Without really thinking about it, he swept Elin up to his hip on his way over so she could see the new little Howlett too. "How long have you two… you should have come to get us!" he said as the grin kept widening and Elin leaned over to investigate.

"We didn't want to wake anyone if we could help it," K told him. "I'm just into the first cup right now. Haven't been here for more than five minutes." She tipped the little guy for both of them to see a bit easier before she gave Scott a little smile. "Wanna trade me for a second?"

"Please," he said softly as he let Elin down and waited only until she was settled before he held his hands out for the little guy, holding him as gently as it was possible as he melted into a huge, warm smile all over again.

"You were right," Logan said to K just loud enough for Scott to hear. "Glad he got to meet his godfather before Kurt."

Scott's head popped up fast at that. "Wait. What?"

"Unless you're not up for the job," Logan countered.

"No, I—" Scott shook his head, completely at a loss for words.

"His name is James," K told him. "You know. Because no one  _else_ was using it."

"James." Scott nodded at the name, still looking a bit flustered, before he looked back down at the little guy in his arms and finally broke back into his wide smile. "Yeah. Good. It suits him."

"You know Kurt's gonna want to fight you for that," K warned.

"For what? Holding my godson?" Scott shook his head. "He can wait," he added, this time with a lot more confidence in his tone as he seemed to have wrapped his head around it.

She grinned at him. "Knew we picked the right horse."

Annie leaned over Scott's shoulder to see the little guy as well and broke into a delighted sort of laugh. "Oh, he looks like you, Logan."

"Poor kid," Logan replied without missing a beat before he and Elin went to get more coffee for himself and K.

"Can I see?" Charlie asked, directing the question both to her dad and to K.

"Please," K said. "Need you to make sure we should keep him."

The twins glanced at each other before they quickly climbed up onto the table to peer at the new little boy, and Charlie nodded very seriously at K as Chance looked simply delighted. "You should keep him," Charlie told her earnestly. "I can help."

"You are a great helper," K said before she pulled Charlie down to give her a quick hug and tickle her before Logan and Elin got back with the full mugs of coffee.

Chance rushed over with a grin. "Ewin! Ewin! Your baby brother. So little!" he gasped out. "Come say hi!"

She let Chance pull her over by the hand, and the two of them looked at the little guy where Scott was still holding him — sitting in the chair on the other side of K and still just… melty.

Elin laid a hand on the blanket wrapped around the little fella and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "Hi, baby," she said softly, smiling as he slept on.

"I teach him playnin," Chance promised Elin. "We play lots."

"No, no," she said, shaking her head seriously. "Hugs."

Chance tipped his head to consider this suggestion before he nodded and very carefully leaned over to give baby James the most careful, gentle, soft hug he could manage. Scott couldn't help but laugh at the little face James made — all scrunched up for a second from the hug before he squirmed a bit and settled in again with a sigh.

"Oh. My. Gosh." The door had opened to admit Jubilee and Noh, and Jubilee was standing there with her mouth slightly open in a huge grin as she took in the scene before her. "How long has this been going on and  _no one told me_?"

"Which part?" Logan asked as he sat down again with Elin half snuggled in.

"All of it," she said, gesturing at Scott, Chance, James — the whole group. "The baby snuggles, the  _baby_.  _All of it_."

"Not very long at all," K promised. "Come say hello to James." She looked over at Scott for a moment. "You might have to share at some point."

Scott looked up with a grin and a long suffering sigh. "If I have to."

"I didn't say  _when_ ," K replied, shaking her head lightly — though it only had Scott grinning widely.

Jubilee didn't actually say anything — her response to the whole thing, and especially to James' name, was basically to let out a squeal of delight and run over to demand her turn holding the little guy as Noh peered over her shoulder and gently rubbed James' cheek with the back of one finger.

"Hello, little brother," Noh said with a smile before he glanced at K. "He's just as small as Elin was."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting anyone much bigger," she replied. "Not sure where he'd have gone if he was any bigger than he is. I already couldn't breathe."

"Well, he is darling," Noh said as Sying in his arms leaned over to see what everyone was excited about and let out a shy sort of giggle as he waved at the little boy.

"Hi," Sying called out, though he was half hiding in his dad's shirt as he investigated the newcomer.

"I don't think I've ever seen Jubes this quiet for so long," Logan teased Jubilee's way as he leaned toward K.

With that, Jubilee finally looked up at him and gave him a little sniff. "He's perfect, and he's mine now. Isn't that right, James?" she cooed down at the little boy.

"He's yours until Kurt and Kate get here — then you gotta share," K agreed. "So snuggle up while the snugglin's good."

Jubilee sat in the nearest chair and started to make over little James, with Noh leaned over her as Sying ran over to go to Chance with a little look of confusion over how far gone the adults were over this new baby.

"Ewin is a big sissy," Chance explained as best he could, but when Sying sort of frowned and didn't get what the big deal was, Chance grabbed him by the hand to go off and play somewhere else.

The boys had only just gotten out the toy cars when Kate and Kurt arrived as well — and Kate immediately smacked both hands over her mouth when she saw the little bundle Jubilee was holding, all but dancing in place with excitement as a little squeak escaped between her fingers. Of course, the bamfs weren't nearly as restrained and teleported to crowd around Jubilee and Noh to get a look at the little guy with wide eyes and little grins.

Kurt was simply  _beaming_ as he made his way over to peer at the little boy as well. "Welcome to the world, little one," he said as he leaned over to gently boop his nose.

"They named him James," Jubilee whispered to him before she offered him a chance to hold the little guy.

Kurt's eyes were wide and his mouth slightly parted open as he gently tucked the tiny boy into his arms, with pure delight in his gaze. "Hello, James," he said at what was basically a whisper.

"He looks like his dad," Kate said over Kurt's shoulder with a warm smile Logan's way. "Fitting."

"Suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later," Logan replied. "Just be glad he's a boy with that nose."

"No, he's perfect," Kurt insisted with a still-growing grin, gently touching James' nose once more for emphasis.

K waited for both of them to have a seat before she broke the news. "Sorry, Kate; you lost your bet."

Kate glanced up and made a little show of pouting for just a moment. "So it happened  _after_ midnight, then," she surmised. "So close."

"By a good margin," Logan told her. "Close to four this morning."

"Four hours. That's still not a bad margin to lose by," Kate said with a dramatic sigh and a shrug as she leaned onto Kurt's shoulder. "So, who won? Who had today?"

"Would you believe it's  _Daken_?" Bobby said, shaking his head.

Noh's head popped up at that. "I certainly would  _not_."

"News to us," Logan said. "But that's what Bobby said earlier — so at least he's sticking to the same story."

"Hey, I wouldn't kid about this. I'm not  _that_ good of a liar," Bobby pointed out. "If I was going to kid, I'd do something more believable!"

"It is certainly a fantastic story," Noh muttered to himself, though he was slightly distracted as Krissy, in her efforts to see the new baby, temporarily lost control of her tail and hit Noh in the shoulder with it as she was leaning over.

Kate giggled as she set Krissy down on the table so that not only could Krissy get a better view but also Kate could steal James for herself. And she almost immediately went into making him over with little kisses and half-cooed whispers.

"Make sure to  _really_  get that glitter all over yourself," K muttered her way.

"Hey, I won't complain," Kate said with a smirk before she went right back to snuggling James.

K and Logan had leaned into each other after Elin had headed off to play with the other kids, and they were perfectly content to snuggle until K decided it was time to shake up a few people. "Hey Kate, why don't you hand him back to his godfather. I think he's having withdrawals already. Look at him."

Kate looked up almost without thinking about it to Kurt, but Scott was already leaning forward with an unreadable sort of grin on his face that Kate had never seen before. "Wait… what?"

At that, Scott grinned even wider. "You heard right," he said simply before he took advantage of her surprise and scooped James back out of her arms to settle in with his little godson, wearing the proudest look Kate had seen on his face since the twins had learned to say 'dad'.

Kurt's tail was practically standing straight out behind him, and his eyes were wide for a whole new reason as he looked between Scott and James — and Logan and K.

"Don't get too upset; you got the firstborn," Logan said with a little wave.

"And his middle name is Wagner," K added. "Consider it a consolation prize."

Kurt stared a bit more as Scott's grin widened before, finally, the Elf smiled and set a hand on Scott's shoulder. "You'll spoil him rotten," he teased gently.

"Of course he will," Annie said with a little laugh, clearly enjoying the look on Scott's face.

Jubilee was beside herself at that little tidbit of news as she turned to Logan. "Congratulations — and happy birthday too."

As the morning progressed, more and more of the mansion residents came down to the kitchen — and everyone was thrilled with the surprise birthday present for Logan. Tammy in particular laughed off Jubilee's warning that Scott wouldn't give James up easily and simply levitated both James and Scott over to where she was. And that if nothing else was enough of a determined move that Scott finally reluctantly handed him off to Tammy … only so she could cuddle him briefly and then hand him to Tyler — because Tyler  _clearly_ wanted to hold him but wasn't saying anything. The big blonde simply melted into a puddle over the little guy, who snuggled right into him, and it wasn't until Tammy pointed out that he should probably share that he finally handed James off to Spidey.

"Oh, wow ... um…. I'm really more the guy who just … takes the pictures, not holds the tiny ones … particularly tiny ones that belong to very protective and dangerous parents," Peter tried to argue as Tyler tipped James into his arms.

Kate giggled delightedly when James seemed to be perfectly happy with Peter, though. "Aww, Pete, I think he likes you."

"Of course he does, it's genetic," Peter pointed out with a little smirk. "Besides, who doesn't love your friendly neighborhood Spider Man?"

"Only dumb people and J. Jonah Jameson," Kate teased him. "Which, you know, was a bit repetitive."

"The dumb people part or all of those J's?" Peter asked without missing a beat.

"Yes." She grinned right back at him.

"Well. We should institute a rule — no talking about monsters around the little guy," Peter said. "And that guy is a monster."

"We'll only talk about floor monsters and tickle monsters," Annie promised with a laugh. "But I don't think those count anyway."

Peter smirked as he walked across the room lightly bouncing the little guy. "Well, I can't believe it, but your big brother won the bet," he said to James. "And … I'm going to have to actually talk to him ... and then take a shower. Maybe  _two_ showers." He smirked as he handed James over to his father with a whispered congratulations.

"Well, as fun as all this  _socializing_ has been … I think I need a nap," K said as she and Logan both got to their feet. "Annie, can you bring Elin up if she gets to be any trouble?"

"Oh, I'm sure she won't be, but yes, I can do that," Annie said easily, gesturing to where Elin was playing with the other kids and babbling happily back and forth with Krissy.

"Thanks," Logan said softly as the three of them headed out of the kitchen and toward the stairs, passing three almost shocked looking teenagers on their way through.

Cam elbowed Jana in the ribs as she all but blinked back into reality and very quickly and clumsily pulled out her phone. "That's  _Wolverine_ ," he hissed unnecessarily, since clearly, all three of them could see that.

"Yeah, figured that out, thanks," Jana replied as she gave him a dirty look. By the time she tried to snap the picture, the little trio of ferals was already out of decent range. She swore a bit under her breath and pocketed the phone, turning to face the other two — but Ozzie was already headed for the door. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked him.

"We might not have pictures, but we can at least tell him we saw them," Ozzie explained.

"He said to just text," Cam replied. "Less obvious that way, genius."

"Yeah, but I want to make sure we get  _credit_ ," Ozzie insisted. "And besides, he doesn't know about the  _new_ one," he added, gesturing up the stairs toward where the ferals had disappeared. "Don't you want to get credit for that?"

"I think if we want that kind of credit, we better wait until we have pictures," Jana said in a tone that clearly read she wasn't going to argue that particular point.

Ozzie rolled his eyes hard. "I'm tired of homework and waiting around here," he muttered. "I want to get  _moving_." He held out both hands and camouflaged them against his jacket. "I want  _better powers_ ," he said as he wriggled his fingers — they were clearly visible now that they were moving, despite the coloring.

"Maybe you just need to learn to stand still," Jana replied.

"Easy for you to say," Ozzie shot back her way with a glare. "I heard you and Professor Hawkeye — I heard her telling you yours were cool." He crossed his arms over his chest and drew himself up. "Don't tell me you want  _out_  just because you got sweet-talked by a human!"

"Hey." Jana drew herself up to match him — they were both about the same height — as she poked a finger in his chest. "Don't forget who it was that found you two and introduced you to Dr. Essex. If it weren't for me, you'd both still be picking pockets and  _wishing_ you got this close to the X-Men!"

"Hey, hey," Cam said as he tried to get between the two of them. "Look, we'll — we'll just get a picture later. Okay?"

"They've been hidden away for weeks!" Ozzie shot back. "It could take us ages to spot them again, and Jana here totally blew it!"

"I didn't notice  _you_ taking any pictures," Jana countered with a glare.

Ozzie glared at her hard for a long time before he spun on his heel. "Don't screw this up,  _Scanner_ ," he added over his shoulder. "What would your favorite professor think if I told her what you're  _really_ here to do?"

She squared up with him and took a few steps toward him. "You wouldn't dare," she challenged.

Ozzie glared harder at her. "Hope you sleep with that phone under your pillow," he said. "I'd hate to think what would happen if someone were to have a fit of  _remorse_ and give it to Professor Hawkeye and tell her all about how you introduced us to a life of crime."

"You better watch your back," she shot back. "Before someone has to take you down to introduce yourself to the resident doctor when I kick your ass."

"Enjoy it while it lasts. When I get my enhancements, you better hope you're still on my good side," he shot back before he just stormed off.


	6. Privacy Concerns

Now that little James was here and K was no longer in her pre-baby state of "touch me and you die", Kate cornered the two ferals one afternoon to get something straight.

"Listen, I love watching JJ squirm as much as anybody, but he's practically begging me to get you guys to talk to him, and it's just getting  _sad_ ," Kate said.

"Humility hurts on someone like him," Logan said, unconcerned as James slept on his chest.

"Yeah, but I want to move on from watching him squirm to lording it over him that he works for me now," Kate pointed out.

"And you think it'll be a best seller," he replied dryly.

"I do," Kate said. "But I won't do it without you."

"That's not a great argument to make," he said. "Already ticked off it's out there as much as it is."

" _I_ think it makes you even scarier," Kate assured him with a winning smile.

"Maybe I don't need to be scarier," he countered with a look.

She let out a long sigh and shook out her hair. "Look. Other people are already running with the story because a lot of it  _is_ public now. I just want to put out the truth — that's all I've ever wanted to do, okay?"

"How'd this happen again?" he muttered under his breath.

"It happened because stupid politics," Kate reminded him.

"Right. That's what it was," he grumbled.

She fixed him with a look. "Are you going to be a big baby about this?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I am," he answered, straight-faced.

"Then at least be a big baby at JJ and not  _me_ ," she half-pleaded with him. "Come on. Please?"

"Are you gonna keep whining and begging if I don't?" Logan asked.

"Probably," she said. She looked him over and then let out a breath. "Logan, I'm not trying to make a buck off your story. I'm not trying to do that to you. I just want people to know the truth without the stupid bias you  _know_ the other guys are spinning."

" _If_ we go through with this … no one around here ever —  _ever_ — gets to bitch about the bad press on them again. Ever."

"I can't control everyone else, but I'll smack them if they do," Kate promised. "Please.  _Please_ just let me make sure the record is right. I don't want you guys to get painted the wrong way because of the information  _we_ put out there."

The two little ferals shared a look for a long moment before finally, he nodded once. "I'll listen to him. He lies or pisses me off — that's it."

K leveled a finger her way. "And Kurt has to play with the little ones while we're dealing with the neck-deep stupid."

Kate nodded a few times and let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Great. I'll call him up," she said, clapping her hands together. "You know Kurt will be  _more_ than happy to bathe in the glitter for a while anyway. Let's go."

* * *

The meeting that Kate set up was clearly not on JJ's terms. She made him come to her home office, since that would already make him uncomfortable, and when he arrived, both ferals were already there and waiting for him as he sat down in the chair that Kate usually reserved for authors who came to visit.

He had on his best business expression, though, and it looked like he was actively making an effort to look pleasant, strange as the look was on his face. "Thank you for finally agreeing to meet with me," he told both of them. "This shouldn't take long. I just need your signatures and I'll get out of your hair."

Both of them stared at him, waiting for more, neither making a move to sign anything at all.

JJ cleared his throat a bit and reached down to his briefcase to pull out the documents he needed. "This is everything you need. If you'll just sign it, I've already got everything written up, more or less. You can read over it before it goes to press — Mrs. Bishop-Wagner already suggested that."

"I'll read over the manuscript  _before_ I sign anything," Logan said.

"Gotta have Murdock read the contracts over for us first, too," K added.

JJ paused, a muscle at the edge of his jaw working, but he finally nodded. "I have a drive with the complete manuscript — but you have to agree to keep it in this office. I don't want  _leaks_ ," he insisted.

"Leaks? As if we don't know what happened?" K challenged. "If you're reporting on the program — and us — nothing there will be much of a shock, and certainly not anything we care to share with anyone. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this talk. At all."

"Even so, I want to take precautions," he said firmly. "The manuscript stays here. You can make comments and request changes, but it stays where I'm sure none of your students can accidentally—"

"I can make changes or you can do it without our names or likenesses," Logan interrupted. "And it doesn't go to print until I okay the  _final_ cut."

JJ swallowed, clearly trying to cut back a comment. "Fine. But I want that in writing."

"Don't worry about that," Logan said. "I wouldn't do a damn thing with you unless it was wrapped up nice and tight on paper first."

"Then I'll expect your changes — and the signed papers — as soon as you've finished reading it."

"You'll get our revised papers from Murdock when he gets around to it," Logan said. "Keep your manuscript until then. In case you might want to change something that'll never make the cut anyhow."

"Fine." JJ glared at him for a moment, though he was obviously trying to soften it. "Fine. Anything else?"

"I'll let you know," Logan told him. " _Through_  Murdock."

"Fine." JJ stood up and took his briefcase in one hand. "I'll be in touch with Murdock then. Thank you for  _finally_ meeting with me," he said as politely as the steadily growing purple color would allow.

"John," K called out as he reached the door. "The next time you say 'finally' to me like that, I'm going to slap you.  _Finally._ "

Some of the old JJ came back as he looked her way. "Threatening physical assault, Lilja?"

"Threatening you like I know your mother used to when you were a kid, that's all.  _Manners_. I know a woman in that time never would have let their only son act like you do now."

He just stiffened, glared, and looked like he put his every effort into  _not_ snapping back at her as he spun on his heel and made a very quick retreat down the hallway.

* * *

Jana and the other two kids had a hard time getting anywhere on the picture front. Part of it was simply that they weren't sure how to snap a picture without getting questioned on it or getting noticed, and part of it was the  _strict_ no-phones policy both of the Howletts had for their classes.

So it was really just a stroke of luck when Jana came down to breakfast early that morning to put some finishing touches on her math homework — she was pretty sure she had question #5 wrong entirely — that she basically stumbled right into the middle of the entire Wagner clan  _and_ the entire Howlett clan.

It was sort of automatic, really, when she quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of all seven of them clustered at the other end of the kitchen as Kate and Kurt had their bags packed and seemed to be on their way out.

"Are you sure you can handle watching her for us?" Kate was asking. "Even with the new little one?"

"Are you  _trying_ to insult me?" Logan asked.

"I just mean … I know I wanted to spend a little more time with Kurt after Cable borrowed me and K for a little while…"

"The right Kurt," K put in with a smirk.

Kate nodded. "And besides, he's so little, and you'll want to spend time with him, especially after going so long apart, and—"

"He sleeps most of the time," Logan said. "And the girls play together whether you're here or not. It'll be fine."

K nodded her agreement as James slept on her shoulder, and she gave them a scooting wave as they urged them to get moving. "Hurry up and go — we know you two need privacy to make the glitter set in right."

"Would be fitting," Kate said with a sort of smirk. "I mean, two years ago, the glitter was for Krissy."

"As long as you have another one before I do, that's fine," K told her.

"What about Scott and Annie?" Kurt teased gently. "You know they've been trying as well."

"And for longer than us," Kate agreed.

"Yeah, but you know how it goes, right? It'll happen when they're ready to show up — not the other way around," K said, then paused and made a face. "And I'm slipping into paranoid already."

"Don't I know it," Kate said with a little laugh before she gave K a kiss on the cheek. "If you feel that paranoid, try to give your excess glitter to me or Annie," she teased.

"Take it — take all of it," she said with a wave. "We barely decided to get started when we got him — apparently, I have enough to spare."

"You're talking to the mother of a honeymoon baby," Kate teased right back.

"And you're talking to the mother of the 'Yeah, you were only engaged' baby."

Kate grinned at that and laughed as Kurt wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her to him. "We'll see you both next week," he told Logan and K with an impish smile.

"Yep, don't come back until you're  _done_ ," he teased.

"In that case, see you much later," Kate countered.

"No worries — we'll have Krissy swearing in eight languages by the time you get back," Logan promised.

Kurt chuckled and shook his head at Logan. "You'll call us if anything comes up?" he said.

"Only if it's the end of the world," Logan replied. "We still get to introduce Barton to his little not- birthday buddy."

"He'll be so sad. I hope you make sure he gets plenty of baby snuggles," Kate laughed.

"We'll get pictures for you," K promised. "Of just that moment where he turns into purple goo."

"He's just… I love him," Kate laughed, shaking her head at the mental image before Kurt smiled at the rest of the group and, tired of waiting, teleported them both off to their anniversary getaway.

Jana had been quietly watching the entire interaction, so she didn't notice at all that Scott had come up behind her until he said, "You can say hello. They won't bite." She turned to find that he was smirking at her and tried very quickly to straighten up and act like she hadn't been eavesdropping.

"I just ... I didn't want to interrupt," she said quickly.

"Well, you're not interrupting now." Scott looked up at Logan and K and waved their way. "You two met Jana yet? She's one of our newest. Kurt found her and a couple boys a few weeks ago."

"Saw her in class," Logan said with a nod. "But that's about it. Where'd you come from, kid?"

"I'm from Queens," she said with her hands shoved deep in her pockets.

The two little ferals shared a look as Scott came over to pick up James. "No, really," K said. "Where are you from?"

Jana startled a bit at that and shoved her hands deeper. "Queens," she repeated. "But… recently. I'm from ... all over, I guess."

K chuckled a bit and shot Logan a glance. "Hey. I get it. But no reason to be ashamed. Come on. Original location. Can't be that bad." She tipped her head toward Logan. "This one's Canadian, and we still keep him around." Logan shook his head and let out an almost inaudible growl as he turned to look at K, who was trying very hard not to smile at him before she leaned in and gave him a kiss.

"I'm just ... I don't really claim anywhere," Jana muttered.

"I could torture it out of you if I wanted to," K told her, her smile not having slipped in the least.

Jana looked suddenly  _very_ uncomfortable as she shifted under K's gaze. "I'm — I'm from Detroit," she mumbled quickly.

K straightened up just a bit. "Alright, mittens!" she teased. "Glad to hear we have another Michigan native. You'd have to go a lot further north for me." She leaned forward a bit. "Don't worry; being a troll is far less embarrassing than being a Canuck."

Jana smirked the slightest bit and nodded. "I didn't know you were from Michigan," she said.

"Few do," K replied before she lifted her mug to toast her. "Have a seat and relax. Scott's right. We probably won't bite."

Jana shifted uncomfortably but couldn't come up with a reason to turn them down, so she sat down with her breakfast bar, homework, and coffee — and tried not to look too guilty.

To her surprise, none of them seemed to try to engage her much, and she couldn't catch either of them looking at her, even though she felt as if they were watching. After a little while, Scott peeked over her shoulder to see what she was working on and then handed James back to Logan.

"I can help you with that if you're having trouble," he offered.

She straightened up quickly, her eyes wide. "Are you — I mean — really?" She swallowed and cleared her throat. "I mean. Thanks. That would — thanks." She just glanced back down at her homework as she turned a brilliant scarlet.

"Have fun," K said Jana's way as she and Logan once again pulled their vanishing act, leaving Jana alone with Scott to work on her math.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong," Jana said with a frown. "We're supposed to do all the odd problems so we can check our answers, but I've done this thing six times, and I'm still not getting the answer in the back of the book."

"Well, how about you start off with a fresh piece of paper? Might help you see it clearer when you  _can't_ see the answers you've erased already," Scott said as he started to rearrange her papers.

She nodded and sighed and let him push away the notebook paper she'd nearly erased a hole into and pulled out a blank sheet before she started to write out the equation she was supposed to be solving. She started to mutter the steps to herself as Scott watched over her shoulder for a moment until he spotted the problem — she had her order of operations wrong, subtracting before she divided out.

"Wait — there it is," Scott said with a little smirk. "You missed the division before the subtraction. Easy enough to do."

She stared at the sheet of paper for a moment, following where he was pointing, before she let out a groan of frustration and put her head down on the table. "You're kidding me. That was  _it_?"

He grinned at her. "Yeah, that will sneak up on you. How about I stick around and help you finish up the rest of the assignment? I won't say a word unless you're having trouble."

She picked her head up just enough to glance at him to see if he was being serious before she sat up a little straighter and nodded. "I usually do okay in math," she said. "I guess it's just… you know. Getting close to Christmas," she muttered.

"You do look a little distracted," he said with a nod.

"I don't want to leave," she admitted, staring down at the paper instead of him.

"No family?"

"Yeah." She shifted the paper in front of her.

"Well, you don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to," he promised. "We have more than a few kids that are here year-round."

"That's okay. I do okay on my own," she said quickly. "And anyway, I gotta… yeah."

"Yeah, so did I at your age," Scott said. "But it's good to have a place to fall back on when you need a break from being on your own." He gave her a little bit of a smile. "Besides, Annie loves cooking for a crowd."

"I like Miss Annie," Jana agreed. "She and those twins and... " She looked furiously back down at her pencil. "I like this place."

"It seems to suit you well enough," Scott said with a nod. "I saw the preliminary grades for the end of this semester. You're doing well in self defense. That's no easy trick."

"I'm from Detroit," she said with a little shrug, though she looked proud to hear it. "Those kids - they don't know what's up."

"Well, Logan didn't have any notes yet for you, and that's pretty hard to come by," Scott told her.

"Wait, really?" Her head popped up as she looked at Scott. "He yells at me  _all the time_."

Scott kind of smiled and nodded. "He yells at everyone all the time, but you blew the curve in your class. Officially 'better than average'."

She drew herself up at that and looked even prouder. "And I don't even have good powers," she said, sounding proud.

"That class in particular has nothing to do with powers," Scott told her. "And there's nothing wrong with what you have."

Jana gave him a  _look_. "All I can do is tell you what your powers are," she said. "That's like telling you what color the sky is."

"Do you know how amazing that is?" Scott said. "Believe it or not, some mutants come here without being able to describe what they can do. You can tell them not only what they can do but what they're capable of. There are plenty of people that would love to have that ability and would abuse it horribly if given half the chance."

She scrunched up her nose and let out a scoff. "Doesn't do anything to help in a fight."

"Not offensively, no," Scott said. "But defensively, you have the potential to be a tactician — and direct others to where they should go. You could manage the whole fight. Natural leader like you? You could go places."

She brightened up a bit at that and looked more excited. "You really mean that? I mean — that I'm a leader?"

"I've seen the way you've handled those boys," Scott said with a little smirk. "And just about every other kid you come into contact with."

"Oh, that's nothing," Jana said, waving him off. "You just have to deal with stupid people is all."

"You're right — because you're not even trying. They just listen. That's … not something everyone has," he told her. "Most people have to cultivate it."

"Not you, though," she said, then looked brilliantly red. She had no idea how to talk to her hero — and no idea what to do with him  _complimenting_ her, either.

He gave her a little smirk. "Let's just work on the rest of your math for now," he said, redirecting her attention to the task at hand.


	7. A Proposed Trade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Adventures With Cable" is still ongoing for a few more daily updates before that side story is over, but we're still rolling here either way!

Classes had ended for the day, and most of the kids were going out for the weekend, but Jana was curled up in a corner in one of the window seats of the living room, far from the rest of the students as she looked through the pictures on her phone.

They were pretty personal, she was realizing now. Jubilee and Noh dancing in the hallway and sharing his headphones. Tyler and Tammy sitting with their hands just resting on the same arm of a chair. Elin snuggling Chance and giving him a little kiss after he fell over trying to run too fast. Krissy hiding behind Scott's legs and glaring at Sying after the little boy had accidentally broken one of her toys because he was still learning to control his strength.

And then there was the one from this morning. Kate and Kurt wrapped up in each other, as usual, and teasing their friends. Logan had his arm around K's shoulders, and James was sound asleep, and both Elin and Krissy were sitting in their highchairs giggling at each other and being silly. It was a sweet sort of family portrait that belonged in a family photography book, not at Bannerman Castle.

These people had invited them into their home, and Jana couldn't help but feel guilty for spying on them. They were so  _nice_. Cyclops helped her with her math homework. Hawkeye praised her in front of the entire class on how fast she was on the uptake learning about alien tech. Annie and Storm never made fun of the fact that she struggled with her English homework more than the other kids; she'd never done well with "themes" and other abstract stuff she couldn't just… see and set down and declare as truth.

But all her teachers were patient with her, except maybe Logan, who shouted at her — but she could hear Scott's encouragement from breakfast in her head, echoing around all day as she thought it over.

She had stopped on the picture of Logan and K with their family and the Wagners, only she wasn't looking at the picture anymore but at the little 'trash' icon that would let her delete it. She should delete it. No one would know that she ever got the picture, and the boys hadn't been able to get anything like it. They wouldn't think twice about her saying that she hadn't gotten it yet.

But… Essex had promised her that she could get powers like Scott. And he'd said she could be a good leader, that she was a  _natural_. She could be just like Cyclops. Blast anybody that crossed her and … She needed this picture to do that.

And there was a part of her that was proud, too.  _She_ was the one who managed what the other two couldn't. And she didn't just get a half-captured, quick thing, either. This was a whole group shot, the whole nine yards, and  _she_ did it.

Jana was so wrapped up in thinking it over that she didn't notice Ozzie until he was leaning over her shoulder. "Get anything good?" he asked — and before she could hide the picture, he'd seen it. He broke into a huge grin and made a grab for the phone. "Did you send it yet?" he asked as he snatched the phone from her hand and looked over the message history, shaking his head when he saw it was empty. "What's the holdup, Scaredy Scanner?" he sneered at her before he sent the picture off himself.

She glared at him and elbowed him to get her phone back, pulling up the message to see that he'd sent it  _and_ took credit for her hard work. With a cry of frustration, she kneed him in the stomach and sent him crashing down before she stalked out of the room, positively livid, but not before she tossed over her shoulder, "You'll regret that, cheater."

But the damage had been done. The picture was sent. So … now what was she supposed to do?

They were only supposed to have enrolled until they got what they were sent for. And then Essex would give them their new powers when he came to the school. So ... she was probably supposed to go to that castle, right? Get somewhere safe while he did his thing…

Only… she didn't want to. She'd been wanting to have better powers since she first discovered hers, and she'd been hoping for super powers since she was old enough to know what they were. But now, she just wanted to go to school and take the tactics class Scott had suggested she sign up for.

But Ozzie was probably headed there right now, taking credit for her good work.  _She_ had done everything.  _She_ had been the one to find Essex in the first place, and  _she_ was the one who figured out how to sneak onto the grounds. And it was stupid, but she hated the idea that Ozzie got credit for anything she did, even if she didn't  _want_ the credit.

She just let out a long, loud, frustrated sigh that she didn't care who overheard before she went to go grab her coat and head out. Cam was the only one of them old enough to drive, but she could figure out a way to get there faster than either of them, she was sure.

It took her two hitched rides and several bus rides, but she got there fast enough, though she was frustrated to see that Cam's car was already there, and she all but stormed into the place to immediately go to Ozzie and kick him in the shins before she decked him and he fell right on his stupid butt. She didn't even care that Essex was watching the whole thing.

"You try ditching me and taking credit for  _my_ hard work again, and I'll aim lower next time," she promised him with a hard glare before she kicked him again for good measure.

Essex smirked at the little display, seemingly content to watch as the girl corrected Ozzie's bad behavior for herself. "Is that true, young man? Trying to take credit where it is not due?"

"She's crazy," Ozzie said, trying to block her from kicking him again.

"Then why did it come through from her number?" Essex asked with a bit of a glare.

Ozzie fell a bit quiet at that as Jana looked triumphant, her hands on her hips and her chin thrust out. "Didn't think of that, did you, stupid?"

"Though I would like to know why you didn't send it sooner," Essex said her way. "When was that taken?"

"There's a really strict no cell phone rule at the school," Jana said quickly.

"Yes, to avoid this photograph from being taken," Essex told her. "You have no idea what this snapshot is worth, do you?" He was smirking at her in a very unsettling way.

She squared her shoulders and kept her hands in fists at her sides, ready to put them up in defense of her actions in a second. "Must be worth a lot," she reasoned. "So pay up: you said we'd get powers. Better ones. That's worth a lot too." She looked like she was ready to fight as she added, "Unless you're backing out — then I'll be taking that phone."

"Quite the opposite," Essex replied before he waved a hand and, in a flash, the three kids were off the ground — restrained by three massive Marauders. "You'll wait in the lab for your turn." He turned his head, the relaxed, easy tone now a thing of the past as he barked out his orders to the Marauders on what he expected of them, and what Jana heard of their orders had her horrified.

* * *

Back at the mansion, K and Logan were just putting the kids down for their naps, the two little girls cuddled up comfortably together and James in his crib, sound asleep, when Chance and Charlie came in to see if they could 'help'.

K squatted down to look Chance in the eyes as he asked, peeking in the room with wide eyes. "All you could do right now is snuggle up, sweetie. There's room if that's what you want to do."

Chance tried to peer around her to the little girls and then nodded very seriously. "I help. I snuggle," he said with a little smile. Charlie grinned and headed over to cuddle with him.

K followed them over to where the girls were very sleepily trying to get comfortable and let him cuddle up — the twins giggling as she covered all four of them up with the blanket and the two near sleeping girls smiled tiredly.

Chance very carefully and delicately gave both girls a kiss before he snuggled into Elin mostly — though he didn't want to leave Krissy out and was half holding her hand as well. "Night night," he told both of them, clearly content where he was as Charlie curled up on the other side of Elin — she didn't want to snuggle with Krissy and her tail.

"You shouldn't encourage them," Logan told her as he pulled her closer to him.

"They're being sweet. Leave them alone," she countered.

The kids were all starting to drift off as a call of alarm echoed up to them from downstairs. Logan and K had enough time to share a look and part company, with K intending to stand guard with the kids as Logan headed off at a run to find out what the problem was. She hadn't quite gotten to them, softly singing in Swedish when K found herself entirely unable to move or speak.

A moment or two later, she was livid as she watched Sinister himself walk into the room and look over the group of sleeping or half-asleep children. "It certainly makes it more convenient when you gather them up for me," he drawled out as he looked them all over one by one.

Charlie was the most awake of the group as she glared at Sinister openly. "Futzy creep," she all but growled at him, and the anger in her voice had her brother sitting up straighter next to her and taking better notice of what was happening instead of focusing on snuggling.

Chance glanced at his sister and tipped his head at her. "Futzy creep?" he repeated, and when she nodded, he very carefully climbed out from between the two others with his little hands in fists.

Sinister glared down at the little ones and turned toward the Mauraders behind him. "Take them all," he said as he reached down to pick up James. "I have a lot of catching up to do, apparently."

But Chance didn't seem to agree at all with Sinister going to James' crib, and he ran right up to the tall, creepy doctor to start wailing and pounding on him from the knees down with everything that an almost-three-year-old boy could muster — fists, feet, and loud shouting.

Sinister simply ignored him for a moment before he tipped his head toward the boy, and one of his assistants slipped in and restrained him with one arm before he snatched up Elin with the other. In the space of a few minutes, all of the kids were on their way out the door with Sinister — and K was in a state of panic as she could hear the kids yelling the whole time.

One of the Marauders pitched a canister into the room and closed the door behind him, ensuring that they'd get a head start — even though K knew exactly who had taken the kids.

* * *

Jana was furious as she kicked at the bars of the cell Essex had locked her in - ineffectually, of course, but it made her  _feel_ at least a little better. "After everything we did for him," she was muttering under her breath for the tenth time in the past half an hour.

"Give it a rest, Scanner," Cam called out from the cell he and Ozzie were locked in.

"No!" she shouted back. "Does it  _look_ like he's going to give us what he promised?"

"So why are you beating up the bars? That's not helping anybody!" Cam shouted back.

"Because I can't reach  _you yet!_ "

Cam quieted down at that and went back to sitting with his arms around his knees, though Ozzie still looked hopeful. "He said we'd get a turn in the labs," he pointed out.

"Right," she said, arms crossed over her chest as she gave the bars a final kick. "Then why do I have the feeling that what he said isn't what you think it means?"

"Because you're, like, thirteen, and suspicious, and you can't admit when you're wrong!" Ozzie said, glaring her way.

"And you're too  _stupid_ to figure out this whole thing was a terrible mistake! Even when we're locked up in a cage!"

Ozzie had taken a deep breath and looked like he was ready to give her a piece of his mind again when the doors opened to admit more of Essex's Marauders and the man himself — and even Ozzie had to stare, wide-eyed, as the caged kids realized that every single one of the little kids from the mansion had come back with Essex.

"Put all the small ones in one cell," Essex ordered, looking overly pleased as he looked down at James in his arms. "I'll keep the littlest myself."

The three teens watched in abject horror as the Marauders locked up all of the kids — with Charlie shouting something about a "futzy creep" and all four of the others demanding to go home the whole time. Sying actually managed a swing that left an angry red mark on one Marauder's face before they were locked in, and Krissy ran over to him to give him a little squeeze of her hand, almost hiding behind him too. Elin was glaring up at Sinister and growling low and quiet, though she was at least smart enough to know she couldn't do anything more than that. Chance was still trying to defend her, though, and was standing in front of her and Charlie, shaking and crying but refusing to sit down or take his eyes off of Sinister.

"You never said — you said you wanted to  _study_  the X-Men!" Jana spluttered out, positively livid. "This wasn't part of the deal!"

"You act as though you're in control of the situation," Sinister said slowly.

"You wouldn't know  _anything_  without me!" she half-shouted.

"I know that if you continue to shout, I'll rescind my part of the deal," he said evenly.

That got the kids' attention again as Ozzie jumped to his feet. "See, I told you," he said Jana's way. "We're still getting cool powers."

"Nothing is free, of course," Sinister replied. "You'll have to give me something in return — samples, of course."

"Sure," Ozzie agreed quickly as both Cam and Jana shot him a look.

"We held up our end of the deal — you can't  _change it_ ," Jana said.

"Then you won't get what you wanted," he replied. "I require permission before I can do a thing, and that permission extends to samples."

Cam had his knees underneath his chin and was sullenly glaring, so Jana took it on herself to thrust out her chin at Essex. "All you've done so far is change the deal and kidnap  _kids_. How do we know you'll give us powers if we say yes?"

"If you don't want them, it's of no concern to me. It would save me time, frankly, not to have to bother with following through. I'll not continue to entertain your childish behavior."

"Don't listen to her — I'm still in," Ozzie said quickly.

Jana looked torn as she glanced between the kids, the two boys, and Sinister. "I don't…"

"Make your choice," he snapped as James began to make squeaky little sounds of displeasure. "You are wasting my time."

"Okay, okay," she said, glaring at the ground. " _Fine_. You just… okay." With that, she kicked the edges of the bars again and sat down in what was pretty much a pout, glaring at him over the tops of her knees.

"Blood samples to start, then," he said with a little smirk as he laid James down in what amounted to a very old-looking crib and headed right for Jana.

* * *

The first people in the mansion to wake up from the gas were the ferals and Noh, and when the K — who had already seen what happened for herself— got downstairs, she found Noh in a similar state of panic. He wasn't as calm as he usually was; instead, he was nearly hyperventilating as he tried to rouse the rest of the people in the house, gently pulling Jubilee up to a sitting position, clearly on the verge of crying — which was not something he usually  _did._

He glanced up when he saw the K and Logan enter from opposite sides of the room and saw their similarly panicked looks and rushed to meet them in the middle of the room. "I cannot find my son," he breathed out, eyes wide. " _Please_. Please tell me the others are alright," he added, and it was clear from his expression that he already suspected what the answer was but couldn't stop himself from hoping all the same. Behind him, some of the others were starting to rouse on their own, and the sharp gasp from Annie told them that she had jumped right into panic as she recognized how familiar this situation felt.

"He had a stasis field," K told the two men. Logan had a hold on K to keep her from flat running off to get them back. "I couldn't do  _anything_ about it."

Noh gaped at the two of them for a moment before he simply seemed to deflate. "Who… who did he take?" he asked very softly.

"All the little ones," she said, though it was clear looking at K that if Logan were to let her go, she'd have found them and done God only knows what once she got there.

Noh watched K's building panic and seemed to steady himself watching her before he turned his focus subtly to Logan. "I'll help you find them," he half-whispered out.

"Just let me go," K said very quietly. "I don't need help for this one."

As they were talking, some of the others were waking up as well. Annie was in a near-panic as Scott went into action to try and find  _anything_ , and it was clear exactly when he had found something when he simply went  _still_.

"Whatcha got, Slim," Logan asked, still not letting K go.

Scott grabbed up the paper with the calligraphy-like handwriting on it. "He's using the kids — he's using them as  _leverage_ ," he hissed out. "He wants a trade," he added, waving the paper under Logan's nose. "And he hasn't given us much time to decide."

"What does he want?"

" _Who_ ," Scott said. "Who does he want, you mean." The edges of his eyes were red as he was all but shaking with rage.

"Noh, take that note," Logan said, unwilling to let his very angry little wife go even for that. "Tell me who so Scott can breathe."

Noh plucked the note from Scott's hands but almost immediately fell into a rage of his own, a low hiss torn from his throat. "No," he said. "No, he can't have them." He looked like he was only just keeping himself from tearing the note to shreds. "He wants you," he said to Logan. "He wants Scott. He wants my Jubilee. And he wants some of our younger members — Tyler and Tammy."

"I'll go," Logan said, nodding already.

"And me," Scott said through his teeth.

"But the others?" Noh had to set the note down to keep from destroying it. "He can  _not_ have my Jubilee."

"Noh, he has Sying," Jubilee said softly before she looked up at Logan with pure fury in her gaze. "I'm coming with you."

"Jubilee," Noh started to argue, but she cut him off.

"How long do we have? Gimmie that note," she said, plucking it out of his hands before he could do anything about it and just glaring as she glanced at the clock — there really wasn't much time.

"We have to move fast," Scott said quietly. "He'll start killing the kids he doesn't care about if we're late. Chance and Sying..." He was almost shaking in rage. "Extras, he called them," he muttered through his teeth.

"Noh, you're gonna have to hold her for me," Logan said as he tipped his head toward K.

"Why stop her?" Noh said even as he did just that and took hold of K's arm. "It's time to  _end_ this man."

"Tell you what: if we don't get back with the kids in a couple hours, let her go. She'll find him," Logan advised. "He won't be able to run from her."

"Fine," Noh said at last. "But no longer than a couple of hours."

The others were awake now and clearly in a state of fury and panic. Tyler had woken up faster than the others and was watching the entire thing half holding his breath as Tammy leaned against him, still half waking up — though she was the first one of the two of them to speak up.

"We'll go," she said in her usual soft whisper, though even those without enhanced hearing could hear that she was shaking.

"Where are we headed?" Tyler asked, not even bothering to discuss it further. "You might need me anyhow if it comes to a fight."

"Bannerman Castle," Scott said. He looked at the two teenagers with a frown before he added, "We'll try to keep him from the two of you."

"You're kidding, right?" Tyler asked in a flat tone. "Why don't you let us just help you clean this guy's clock?"

"I'll pick him up and dangle him in front of you," Tammy said, still in soft, tired tones, but it was clear she was ticked off.

"We need to get moving," Jubilee said, on her feet with sparks flying from her fingertips.

"Great. Load up — I'm drivin'," Logan said.


	8. Sinister Gets More Than He Asked For

The five X-Men that Sinister had asked for were silent for almost the entirety of the trip out, except for the occasional low growl from Logan that kept up the closer they got to the abandoned, huge place out on an island.

When they got to their destination, there were easily enough Marauders to manhandle each of them. As the first pair approached Logan, he couldn't help but pop his claws under the guy's nose. "Lay one finger on me or any of them, and I'll cut it off. We're here like he asked — lead the way, or I start cutting," Logan snarled out.

Scott walked ahead of the teens and Logan behind them, growling low the entire time. When they arrived, Sinister was standing with James — and beyond him, they could see all the kids in one place. They could hear Elin growling as well as the telltale squeak of Krissy trying to do the same. Sinister didn't only have the little ones, either — the three newest kids were there; the boys were caged, and Jana looked to have been set up for a blood drain; she was pale and wide-eyed.

"Mom?" Sying called out when he spotted Jubilee, who looked simply livid and was barely holding back from losing her temper.

"Hush, sweetheart," Jubilee said as quietly as she was able, through gritted teeth.

"Alright, you wanted a trade," Scott said, his eyes narrowed. "We're here — so let the kids go."

"To whom?" Sinister asked. "You know I don't want to keep any of you. One at a time, give me what I want — and I'll give you what you want."

"Give them to Tammy. Let her take them back," Scott suggested. "You don't need them anymore. You've got who you wanted."

"But she too is on the list of who I wanted," Sinister replied. "You may all leave together once I've finished." He looked at the group of them for a moment before he pointed to Logan. "You first."

Sparks were flying from Jubilee's fingertips, and she was clearly gritting her teeth to keep from screaming at the creepy doc in front of her. As Logan passed her by, he laid a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "It's fine, Jubes," he said quietly. "Not the first time. Likely not the last."

"At least… at least let me move the kids to a different room," Tammy said quietly, peeking out from around Tyler's side where he was trying to keep her from view of everyone at once. "Please."

Sinister considered her for a moment before he crooked a finger at her. "You may hold the little one — and stay with the others until your turn."

She glanced at the others in the group before she nodded quickly and slipped around Tyler, clearly terrified as she held out her arms for James. "Come on, sweetheart," she said to James, pulling him close to her. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay," she whispered over and over again as the little boy was clearly grumpy and not pleased at all. As soon as she had hold of the little boy, one of the Marauders pulled her back from Sinister, nearly dragging her over to where the kids were as the other Marauders moved to keep the rest of the X-Men restrained, not willing to take any chances now that Sinister was without his tiny human shield.

Once Tammy was locked in with the little ones, they all mobbed her, cuddling in as best they could. Elin even tried to stop growling long enough to kiss her brother before the Marauders moved to block the kids' view.

"It's okay," Tammy said as she kissed the top of Elin's head.

"Dad here," Charlie agreed as she pulled her arms around Tammy as best she could. "Want to go  _home_."

"We're going home," Tammy promised them all. "Really soon, okay? I promise."

Scott looked as if he was about to break every tooth in his mouth for as hard as his jaw was set while Sinister tied Logan down — and Logan looked as if he was simply trying to distance himself mentally as far and as fast as he could before it actually got started.

He'd done a pretty good job of it too, though none of those that had come to volunteer could stand to just  _watch._  Even though Logan was doing everything he could to keep from making a noise, it was simply an inevitable thing when he finally  _couldn't_ keep it all under wraps. He managed to avoid screaming, but the sound that wrenched itself from him was just … it sounded like something that couldn't be held back. Somewhere between a gasp and a whimper.

At that sound, the kids, who couldn't see anything, started to get upset. Elin was growling again, but it was when Krissy let out a little muffled, terrified sob, half buried in Tammy's side, that something in Scott  _snapped_.

He hadn't even planned it, not entirely. He wasn't aiming; he just… had his sights on Sinister already, and the red beam that escaped him wasn't entirely controlled. But that only meant it was higher intensity as it hit the pale doctor and blasted him back into a wall — and that's when Scott's beams became purposeful.

" _Enough_ ," Scott half snarled out, shaking with rage as he kept blasting, a focused, single beam that bored into Sinister's diamond at the center of his forehead. He didn't need to use his hands to take the guy's head off.

Jubilee tipped her head toward Tyler, and the two of them attacked the Marauders that had been holding them and Scott. They rushed forward in tandem, letting them have it — claws and plasma together and it was more than Sinister's big bodyguards had expected.

And the whole time, Scott made sure to keep blasting until Sinister was well and truly past the point of returning, opening up the beam even wider to take the guy's head off. When he was finished, he blasted a hole in the wall too — and then, finally, he let up and looked over to where Logan was, firing off a narrow beam that tore open the restraints holding Logan down before he turned his rage on the Marauders with the others.

Tammy was crouched in front of all the kids, both of her hands held out as she kept the Marauders away from the kids, picking up anyone that got too close and pitching them back at Scott, Jubilee, and Tyler, who were tearing Marauders apart. She couldn't quite keep the kids from seeing what was going on, though — and they were all hidden in her sides, half peeking out as they were torn between terror and watching their parents tear the bad guys to shreds.

Once things looked to be getting well in hand, Tyler took a look around the lab then took it a step further, destroying all of the samples he could find — wrecking everything in case the creep found a way to bounce back from what Scott had done.

It took Logan a little while to get himself together again, though when he did, most of the excitement was already over, and when Scott pulled him upright, Logan was sure to hand him the keys before Tammy handed him James and Elin pulled herself up so she could get carried out on his hip.

Jubilee scooped up both Sying and Krissy. Her little boy snuggled right into her but had a firm hold of Krissy's hand; Krissy was still crying. Tammy and Tyler had a twin each as Scott unlocked the cage holding the two teenage boys, who both quailed under the look he was giving them before they ran out as fast as they could.

Which left Jana, who was still staring at Sinister's headless corpse with a look of abject horror. When Scott cut her loose, though, she looked terrified of  _him_ , and she drew back a bit, pale and drained from the blood Sinister had taken and not at all up to trying to outrun him — and she knew it. "I didn't know," she gasped out quickly. "You gotta believe me. He said he was a  _geneticist_."

Scott frowned at the way she was flinching back from him and let out a long sigh. "We'll talk about it when we get back. Come on — we need to get you to Hank," he said, offering her a hand that she looked at suspiciously.

"I didn't know," she repeated, and he nodded. With the adrenaline of the fight gone — he was simply  _tired_  now.

"I believe you," he said, and she finally let him take her to where the car was waiting for them. Logan was far back in the cargo area, looking half asleep with most of the kids curled into him, with Jubilee at the wheel waiting for the other two to catch up. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Jana but didn't say anything as Scott got her in with the rest.

"I'm going to stay here," he told the group. "I'll call Hawkeye — Clint — and see if I can get a couple Avengers to come down. I don't want him coming back."

"You need anyone to stay with you?" Jubilee asked, but Scott shook his head again.

"Just tell Annie what's going on," he said, already pulling out his phone. "And make sure Jana gets to the med wing. She lost a lot of blood."

"I can help if you want some back up," Tyler offered. "Just until Clint gets here."

Scott turned to Tyler for a moment and then let out a breath and nodded. "Probably a good idea," he admitted. "If he does come back, I know I can't take him on my own."

"Liar," Logan muttered, but Jubilee was the only one to hear it, and she smirked to herself as Chance leaned up and patted him.

"Sleepy," he said quietly.

"That's right, sweetie, Logan is very sleepy," Tammy said with a little muted smirk as Charlie, who was snuggled under her chin, nodded her agreement.

"Don't do that," Logan said with a growl.

"Do what?" she asked.

" _That_. Just …  _don't_. Mind your own business," he said, clearly not in any kind of mood to be around anyone at all.

Tammy raised an eyebrow at him before she raised her arm to let Charlie escape and join the cuddles.

"You can't get away with that," Jubilee told her. "You're not in the club."

Tammy smiled at that and shook her head. "I'll take my chances. I'm dating the seven-foot one."

"Who is afraid of the one that's 5'3"," Jubilee pointed out. "There is a reason for that."

"I know," Tammy said. "But Charlie wanted to snuggle him." She was still smirking quietly.

"Charlie's in the club," Jubilee teased. She tipped her head toward the kids curled around Logan. "Take a look."

"Is there a height limit to the club, then?" Tammy teased.

Before she could get the entire giggle out, Logan reached forward and slapped her in the back of the head.

Beside her, Tyler had just finished healing Jana, and he had to chuckle on seeing Tammy rubbing her head and glaring at Logan with a look that had zero bite to it at all. "Don't start," he warned her as he slipped out of the car to join Scott.

Scott pocketed the phone as he hung up with Clint and let out a long breath as Tyler reached him. "Come on," he said, jerking his head to indicate they should go inside. "I want to keep a close eye on him."

The two of them made their way back into the abandoned building. Although Sinister hadn't moved from where he was, the scorch marks were still clearly visible. Scott sat down heavily nearby and scrubbed both hands over his face, seemingly reluctant to believe Sinister was really gone as he watched the body with deep suspicion and looked  _tired_.

"You need a once over?" Tyler asked.

Scott glanced up at Tyler and smirked the slightest bit. "No, I'm fine," he promised. "Just want to make sure we didn't miss anything. We've thought he was dead before…" He let out a long sigh. "Though I think this time he couldn't jump bodies…" He sounded like he was trying very hard not to get his hopes up too quickly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that if he tried to do that, he'd be thinking twice about ticking you off again," Tyler reasoned.

Scott raised an eyebrow at Tyler and scrubbed a hand over his face again. "Doubtful," he half muttered.

"I don't know. What was it that tripped you?" Tyler asked with open curiosity. "That's something I've been working on. To be able to figure out what it was that sets me off."

Scott had to think about it for a moment; he hadn't really been thinking at the time, but… "The kids," he said at last. "When Logan … when they heard Logan and I realized he was going to keep terrorizing them for the rest of their lives if he could…." He trailed off and looked up at Tyler. "I should apologize; I didn't exactly model good control," he offered tiredly.

"I don't know about that," Tyler said. "I think you had amazing control. Fine focus ... "

Scott actually chuckled at that. "That first blast, though," he admitted quietly. "I didn't even realize I was going to hit him until I did."

There was a long silence before Tyler turned to Scott again. "You did tell Annie to make sure that K didn't leave, right? Because if she gets here before Clint, she's going to set him on fire."

"That might keep him from coming back," Scott said with a fleeting smirk.

"The fire or the threat of her that pissed off?" Tyler said with a little smirk. "I noticed he didn't ask for  _her._ "

"Both." Scott smirked a bit wider. "I think he's scared of her."

"She does have a track record," Tyler said with a falsely thoughtful tone.

"Think she'll be disappointed I got there first?" Scott asked.

"K?" Tyler asked, turning toward Scott fully. "No way. She'll probably give you a kiss and a bear hug ... call you some stupid, super sweet nickname."

"At this point, I doubt either of their kids will ever know I have a  _name_ ," Scott said, chuckling a bit.

"That doesn't surprise me," Tyler laughed. "They only give nicknames to people they like, right?"

"That's true for K," Scott said. "Logan has a few for people that piss him off."

"Yeah, but they did pick you for godfather," Tyler pointed out. "I think that should be a clue."

"Well, it's been years and I haven't driven him out," Scott said, then paused. "Well ... not the way I usually do."

"How's that?" Tyler was frowning at the implications. "I didn't think he'd leave unless he wanted to."

Scott smirked at Tyler. "You're pretty young," he said, shaking his head. "I was about your age the first time I tried to tell Logan what to do. Got pretty good at pissing him off since then."

"But he kept coming back," Tyler said.

"Yeah, we were lucky," Scott agreed. "Lucky he knew I was a stupid kid and didn't let that stop him from helping the rest of the team."

"Doesn't sound like a move for everyone  _but_ you. More like the entire team."

"Yeah, as a unit," Scott agreed.

"Why did he keep coming back?" Tyler asked with a frown. "Had to be more than just the team."

Scott let out a breath of a laugh. "He believed in the professor's dream," he explained. "That's always been bigger than any one of us or any team." He smirked a bit as he added, "Plus, you know he wouldn't stay away too long once we had people like Jubes and Kurt on the team."

"He's gotta take care of people," Tyler concluded.

"Always been that way," Scott agreed. He actually smiled a bit as he added, "That's when we get along best. Someone to protect — easier to keep from trying to kill each other."

It was another ten minutes before Clint finally arrived, and still, Sinister hadn't moved in the slightest. Nothing had changed, but Scott hadn't taken his eyes off of the body, either.

When Clint found the two X-Men, he let out a low whistle when he saw the scene in front of him. "So ... facial recognition's impossible, but the dramatic getup, the medical setup… you guys killed Mr. Sinister?" He sounded impressed.

"It was him," Scott said tiredly. "I just … need to be sure it's actually over."

Clint looked at the mess that used to be Sinister and raised an eyebrow. "Looks pretty over to me," he said, though he still made a show of going over to check for a pulse and a heartbeat.

Scott let out a weary breath. "No … he used to be able to jump into body clones. I don't think that's the case …"

"How close did they have to be?" Clint asked. "The clones. I can make a sweep if you're wiped."

"I'm not sure," Scott said with a frown. "But with the condition he was in to start with, I'd guess probably close."

Clint nodded and quickly headed out to search through the whole building, tossing a quick, "This kind of crap doesn't happen to Avengers," over his shoulder before he left.

"So I've been told," Scott said dryly.

Clint was gone for a good long time before he returned with a smile on. "Well, there's no clones that I can find. And there's no evidence that anybody left any of the closets or rooms - dust hasn't been disturbed in any doorways but the ones you guys've used." He gestured at the two X-Men and the body. "You three are the only ones here besides the goons."

"Maybe I should have had Logan sweep the place before he left," Scott muttered quietly.

"Hey." Clint drew himself up a bit. "Do you doubt Kate when you ask her to sweep a place? I know what I'm doing. And I'm telling you - there's no way anybody left this place without you guys seeing it or the dust line and spiderwebs getting broken, okay?"

Scott seemed to think it over for a long while before he finally nodded very sedately. "So that's it then?"

"We can book the body if you're really that worried," Clint said.

"He hasn't regenerated at all," Scott said. "I've been watching."

"Why don't we call in Strange?" Clint suggested. "I figure he or Wiccan can double-check."

Scott shrugged. "You can," he said. "But Essex never used magic."

"Maybe not, but I've been running a team with Wiccan long enough to know that when you pull out a soul — or whatever you want to call it — you can track it. Body switch should be the same principle, right?" Clint tipped his head at Scott. "I just want to make sure."

"Yeah. Seems like." Somehow, Scott looked a bit more dazed, but he was at least trusting what Clint was telling him — which was an improvement.

Clint watched Scott for another long moment before he glanced at Tyler and tossed him his phone. "Call Wiccan for me, wouldja Baywatch? He'll come down and take a look at this place. I'll stay here with Cyclops."

"You got it, Hawk-guy," Tyler replied as he headed outside for better reception — and to give the men some much-needed privacy.

Clint waited until the door was closed before he sat down across from Scott and let out a long breath. "You wanna tell me what happened?" he asked. "Don't spare the details; I'm not squeamish, and I know this guy is a grade A creep."

"He took the kids. All of them. He wanted to trade — the kids for a few of us giving him his precious samples.… He didn't get through one before I just … blasted him," Scott said simply, finally looking up at Clint with a totally blank expression.

"He took the  _kids_." Clint breathed out the realization as he looked around the room with a new understanding.

"He was holding James when we got here. Had the rest of them locked up."

A muscle was twitching in Clint's jaw. "He was locking up…" He looked over at the cages and got even angrier. "And you left enough of him to  _identify_?" he asked at last. "That's some restraint, man."

"Kids were scared," Scott replied in a monotone.

"'Course they were," Clint said, shaking his head. "And you kept 'em safe. That's what you're supposed to do." He watched Scott and frowned. "So what's the hangup, Scott?" he asked at last. "You did good."

"I just — I can't believe it's over. All these years."

"Feels like an age and a half with some of these creeps," Clint agreed, nodding.

"He's chased and tormented me my whole life," Scott told him.

Clint raised both eyebrows at that and leaned in for a moment, his hands clasped in front of him as he seemed to be looking for something to say until he gave up and clapped a hand on Scott's shoulder. "Got Wiccan double-checking me, but from what I can see? It's over. Guy can't touch you or anyone else again." He watched Scott as he seemed to finally be wrapping his head around it. "Alright. Listen to me for a sec, okay? I know you don't drink much, but I'm telling you right now — do  _not_ hit the alcohol when you get home. Don't be alone. Don't try to get numb and don't try to pretend you're not feeling it."

"I need to check on Logan," he said with a little frown. "He usually disappears after something like this."

"He take K and the kids?" Clint asked.

"This hasn't happened to him since they've been around," Scott said, glancing up at him.

"Well, long as they go with him, don't worry about it. I'll call up Nat and tell her to go snuggle Logan or something," he said. "That's not your job right now. You didn't listen to me." He met Scott's gaze and didn't look away. "Tell me what I just told you."

"No I got all that, I'm just — I gotta make sure everyone else is alright too."

"No, you didn't get all that," Clint said sharply. "I told you — don't pretend you're not feeling it. You think the others at that school can't handle it? Don't think Annie's not feeding them or that K's not on Logan like glue?"

"I just want to know this is over with so I can go home to my family," Scott said.

"I'll drive you," Clint offered. "Wiccan can call me when he's done, but I doubt he'll find anything. And you do  _not_ need to drive."

Scott gave him a ghost of a smirk. "I do have Lifeguard with me," he pointed out.

"And Lifeguard can go home with Billy," he said. "You need to get home to your wife and kids, and look, you don't really have a choice in this, okay?" Clint drew himself up a bit. "This is how it's gonna be."

Scott gave him a very dry look with one eyebrow raised the slightest. "Are you going to make me? Because that was the plan anyhow."

"I could, but don't make me do that," Clint said with a smirk as he stood up and offered Scott a hand up.

"If you do send Nat over to keep an eye on things, you two should stick around. I'm sure Annie will be baking in the morning if she's not already."

Clint thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "We should probably stay close anyway. Nat's due in a few weeks."

"That might be bait enough to keep Logan around too," Scott said.

"That's true," Clint agreed. He held out his hand. "Need your phone; I gave mine to Baywatch, and I gotta call my wife."

Scott smirked at him a bit and handed it over with no further comment.

Clint dialed the number without even looking and picked it up. "Nat, how fast can you get down to the mansion to see Wolverine? There was a problem—" He paused as Natasha was already asking what happened. "Kids got grabbed, but Logan's got 'em—" He paused again and a moment later just nodded and handed the phone back to Scott.

"Nat's on her way," he said. "She'll probably beat us back. Meantime, let's get you home." He was still watching Scott out of the corner of his eye before Billy and Tyler poked in from the other room.

"So…" Billy looked over at the two older men. "There're definitely body doubles? But none of them have the guy's soul or mind in them, and they're all in different places, not this creepy place." He let out a heavy sigh. "If you want, I can give you a list of the bodies' hiding places so you can get rid of those too. I wrote 'em down."

"That would be good," Scott said, nodding. "Need to destroy whatever files he has too — just in case someone else goes snooping."

"Got it," Billy said.

"Think you and Ty here can get the teams going and get on that?" Clint asked. "You know that would be a fun one to take Miles on. Just to watch his face when he sees all the clones."

"I'll make sure we record it," Tyler said with a smirk. "I've heard things from Spidey."

"Great. I'm getting Scott home, so just lemme know when you're done." Clint smirked over at Scott. "This is an Avengers run; let the new team stretch their wings and dip their toes in your crazy for a change. So I'll run it."

"You must  _want_ to traumatize them," Scott said evenly.

"It's just cleanup," Clint pointed out. "And they'll know going in what they're going to find."

"Knowing it's a clone and knowing it's a clone of Sinister are two different things," Scott replied.

"That's why I'm sending my team. They don't know him," Clint said. "Heck,  _I_ didn't know what a creep he was until recently, and I've been at this for years." He and Scott headed for the car as he added, "No need to traumatize your friends and your team with this guy anymore. He's gone. Let us bat cleanup."

Scott smirked a bit and couldn't help but chuckle. "Sounds to me like the Avengers are a little … soft."

"You're lucky you said that to me and not Cap or Tony," he teased easily.

"Come on, you've seen the crap we deal with on the regular," Scott said with a bit of a laugh. "And I think your exact words were 'Avengers don't have to deal with this kind of thing'. That's pretty telling."

"Got me there," Clint chuckled. "But hey, that's what the foreign exchange program is for, right? Gotta toughen 'em up."

"Reminding you how good you have it up in the big tower?"

"Yeah, that too." Clint shook his head as he got into the driver's seat of his car. "Listen, you're gonna wake up tonight and think it's not real, so just ... make sure the kids aren't in the room with you."

"Barton," Scott said wearily. "This is not my first time around."

"Different when it's someone who's been around  _that_ long," Clint said. He stared ahead for a second before he said, "My dad, my mentor ... did the same thing to me."

"Genetic experimentations over decades?" Scott deadpanned. "That's cold."

Clint looked over at Scott and actually laughed at that. "Nah, I meant it kept me up nights after they were gone," he explained.

"Honestly, I think I'll sleep better tonight than I have in years," Scott said.

"Good," Clint nodded. He couldn't help but smirk and add, "Annie will appreciate it."


	9. Kisses And Banana Bread

As Jubilee drove them home, Logan was completely swamped with little kids in the back of the car as every single one of them wanted to snuggle with him.

He had James snuggled into one shoulder, Elin on his lap, and Chance occupying the other arm — and any time Chance peeked up at him as he kept his eyes closed, Logan gave him a little reassuring squeeze. Krissy and Sying were tucked into one side and Charlie into the other, and while Sying seemed to have a tight hold of Krissy's hand, Charlie was more focused on something else entirely, looking not at Logan's face but at the blood on him.

"Need Twinkies," she decided at last. "Twinkies and ban-aids."

Logan cracked one eye open and peeked at her. "No, little darlin', I'm fine."

But Charlie didn't seem to believe that and just kept frowning and very carefully trying to investigate the blood on him. "Oush," she said, frowning harder as she saw that there was plenty of it as she tried very gently to clean him up.

"No more oush," he told her. "Just a tired."

"Futzy creep hurt Wogan," she said with a very determined little glare his way. "You need ban-aids."

He gave her a tiny smirk and shook his head. "No, no band aids. I'm fine."

Charlie stuck her finger out at him. "No being wike Daddy," she admonished him.

"No, not that. I don't have any cuts, darlin'," Logan told her. "Not anymore."

The other kids were starting to take notice of the small argument Charlie was having with Logan, little faces scrunched up in confusion as Charlie saw that, no, there were no marks on Logan anymore, just blood.

"Ty help?" Sying asked.

"No, Ty didn't help," Logan said with a sigh and Chance sat up to look for himself. "I just heal fast."

"All better?" Chance asked, his nose wrinkled in confusion.

"Just tired," Logan said with a nod.

Chance thought it over for a minute before he nodded and snuggled into Logan, patting his cheek gently as he looked at the other kids and put a hand over his mouth to tell them to "shush" — now determined to help Logan get a nap.

Logan gave him a little bit of a tighter squeeze. "You're a good kid," he said softly — just for Chance to hear.

Chance snuggled into him with a very proud smile on his face and patted his cheek again. "Wuv you, Wogan."

Elin reached over to Chance and booped his nose as she snuggled in too, a tiny little smile on her face as they continued their little ride back. None of the occupants of the car older than five said a word for the whole exchange — steadfastly minding their own business and facing forward — though Jubilee looked somewhere between slightly emotional herself and very proud of the kids and how they were trying to take care of Wolvie.

She couldn't help but lean toward Tammy after a little while. " _That_ is how you get in the club."

Tammy nodded with a small sort of smile. "Duly noted."

By the time they got back to the mansion, the kids were well and truly snuggled in and almost half asleep, pretty tuckered out by the whole terrifying experience, though they perked up a bit again when they got home: the rest of their parents were waiting for them, all looking anxious.

Noh and K were outside, ready to take off, though K looked as if she was just allowing Noh to hold on long enough to see how bad the damage was when the car came to a stop. She didn't do a head count, though — having spotted Logan in the far back, with a pile of kids on him, that's where she went.

"Everyone okay?" K asked as the kids started to peel themselves off of Logan.

"Fine," Logan replied before he handed her James and gave her a long kiss. "Scott and Ty are wrapping it up now."

"All otay," Charlie assured her. "All better."

"I know, baby," K told her before she let her shoulders relax and gave her a little kiss on top of the head maybe half a second before Annie pulled the little girl into a hug.

Noh was right there too, sweeping Sying up into a very tight embrace, smoothing out his hair and pressing little kisses to his forehead and looking very relieved. Krissy looked around for her own parents for a moment, her tail swishing behind her when she couldn't find them.

"C'mere kiddo," Logan told her offering her an arm to pick her up. "What do you think about movies tonight?"

Krissy seemed to brighten at that and nodded enthusiastically. " _Danke_. Peease."

"We're gonna head up to our room and curl up — that work out for you?" he offered as he picked up both Krissy and Elin.

Krissy was nodding enthusiastically some more, her tail swishing happily. " _Ja!_ "

Logan looked over at Annie as the two little girls snuggled him. "I doubt they want it, but the twins can come later if they want. I'm sure Scott will want to see them."

Annie looked over the tops of both of her kids' heads at Logan with a warm smile. "If they don't go right to sleep, I'm sure they'll want to be where the other kids are."

With that, the little group of ferals and the tiny purple elf headed out together, leaving the others to head in with Annie to the kitchen, where she had indeed been cooking in their absence — though it wasn't a full out baking bonanza they were expecting. She'd been too nervous for that.

As Noh snuggled into Sying, Jubilee reached out with one hand and caught Jana's arm without looking at her. "Waitaminnit," she said, cracking her gum before she turned to look at the girl. "You're not running off until Scott clears you."

Jana shook her head hard. "Lemme go."

"Fight me. Go ahead and try it. You might be taller, but I grew up around Wolverine. I will put you in the dirt."

Jana thrust her chin out at that. "I grew up in Detroit on the streets. You don't scare me."

"Yeah, been to Detroit, not impressed," Jubilee replied. "I'll let you go when Scott gets here. It's up to you if I'm sitting on you in the snow and mud before then."

Jana glared at her openly. "Lemme go — I didn't  _do_ anything!"

"Don't need enhanced senses to know that's a bald-faced lie," Jubilee said easily. "But we  _are_ going inside. It's cold out here, and I think cocoa is in order."

It wasn't ten minutes later that Natasha arrived at the mansion as well, eight months pregnant and miserable-looking, though she seemed more upset for her little uncle than anything else. She swept right up the stairs as gracefully as a waddle would allow and headed right to Logan and K's room.

When she got there, K and Logan were wrapped around each other, with James between them, and Elin and Krissy were lying together at the foot of the bed watching movies. "You lost, Nat?" Logan asked. "Or just lonely?"

Natasha looked over the scene and made her way over to his side of the bed. "Scoot over," she instructed him, climbing in carefully and leaning on his shoulder as soon as there was room. "Clint called to tell me what happened. I'm just checking on my godbabies."

"The kids are fine," Logan said. "Clint's a little bit of an alarmist."

"He always has been," Natasha agreed with an affectionate smile as she leaned that much further into him. "But I'll be staying anyway. Scott invited us to stay for the last few weeks before Zoe decides to come so we can be close to Hank."

Logan nodded thoughtfully and tried to phrase it so as not to upset her. "I was going to take off for a few days." He turned her way. "You going to be alright if we do?"

"Do you want me to watch James and Elin for you two?" she asked.

"Thought I'd take them with," he said. "See if that helps at all."

She thought about it for a moment and then let out a long sigh. "As long as you're back before I have this baby."

He looked her up and down for a moment. "I'll just hide here and wait then."

She didn't bother to hide the relieved look as she took his arm and gently kissed his cheek before she laid her head back down. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Shut up and watch the damn movie," he grumbled low.

* * *

Clint and Scott got back to the mansion about twenty minutes after Natasha had, and neither of them were surprised to see her car there. But they'd only taken two steps through the doors before Annie met them there, simply wrapping Scott up in the tightest hug she could manage as Clint didn't even bother to make an excuse to get out and leave them in privacy.

"Are you alright?" she asked, running her hands over him to check for herself.

"Perfectly fine," he replied. "Not a scratch. I promise."

She hugged him again at that and this time didn't step back or let go. "I was so worried," she whispered.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore," he told her before he gave her a tight squeeze. "He's gone."

Annie stilled at that and took a step back to look up at him better, her eyes wide as she looked him over. "What…?"

"He's dead." Scott said simply.

Annie held his gaze for just a moment to see the truth in his expression before she all but melted into him, the pure relief folding her. "Thank God," she whispered softly.

The two of them made their way inside and to the kitchen, where Jubilee was still pointedly keeping one hand on Jana — at this point just to irritate her and because she could. The girl looked like she was inches from shouting at Jubilee, but when she saw Scott and Annie come in, that expression quickly changed as she very quickly looked down at her shoes and generally tried to look small and invisible.

"You wanna deal with this one now, oh, fearless leader, or do I need to take her down to the Danger Room until you and Miss Annie have  _a moment_?" Jubilee asked with a little smirk. "You know, since Logan offered to let the kids sleep over at his place tonight."

Scott just raised his eyebrows at the information, and Annie glanced up at him and looked between him and the sullen teen at the table and made his decision for him. "I'm going upstairs to take a shower," she told him. "Come up when you're done here." With that, she very quickly kissed her husband and headed upstairs, leaving Scott to deal with Jana.

"I've got it from here, Jubilee," Scott said before he gestured for Jana to follow him as he led his way down the hall to one of the ready rooms. Once they got inside, he closed the door behind them and told her to take a seat.

"Tell me everything," Scott said. "And I mean everything. If I think you're lying, I'll have to go get Logan — and believe me, you don't want me to do that right now."

She had her knees pulled up underneath her in her chair and was trying to look as non-threatening as possible, clearly feeling trapped and scared. "I didn't know," she muttered into her knees.

"I would hope not," he said. "But that doesn't tell me anything about what you  _do_ know."

She stared down at her hands for a long while as Scott waited her out. "I thought it would be a good place to crash. The castle's supposed to be abandoned ... but I found him instead," she explained quietly. "And he said he could give me a job." She looked up at Scott with wide eyes. "There were these huge guys, and I thought they could snap me in half, but he was just… he didn't yell or anything. He seemed like he actually wanted to help."

"Was that before or after you told him what your abilities were?" Scott asked.

"Um, well." She hedged. "I didn't ever really  _tell_ him. It's just that … when one of the big guys grabbed me when I was sleeping, I could tell what he could do." She drummed her fingers unconsciously on her knees and glared at her hands.

"Do you know who he was? Or what he did?" Scott asked quietly. "I guess I'm asking: what name did he give you?"

"He said he was Dr. Essex," Jana said.

"He goes by Mister Sinister," Scott told her frankly. "I know he's been reported in the news like that anyhow. He is … or was ... not a nice person at all."

"I figured that out myself, thanks," Jana muttered. "Not the Sinister part, though. That's…" She looked wide-eyed up at him for a second before she quickly averted her gaze once more. "I didn't know. He just said he was a doctor and a researcher."

"He was a doctor," Scott said. "And a researcher of his own design." He let out a sigh. "He only ever helped someone if he turned them into one of his Marauders. If you want to call that helping. Mindless bodyguards is a more accurate description."

"You mean those huge guys?" Jana picked up her head again, looking totally terrified. "Do you think…"

"I think if you expected him to  _change_ anything for you ... it would have ended up like that," Scott told her. "He had a long history of twisting the gene structure. Stealing people's abilities. Experimenting on them." He took a deep breath. "Some of us have had to deal with him for decades, because apparently, once you were on his radar, you  _never_ got off."

The look of abject terror still hadn't left Jana's face as she just stared at him for a second before, very quietly, she said, "He said he could give us powers. Better powers, like… like yours."

"Jana, he would only have changed what he didn't like in you and take what you already have," he said as gently as he could. "He wanted abilities from us again."

"He had a list," Jana said suddenly.

"Yeah," Scott said in a little distant tone. "I'll bet. Healing from Logan, beams from me, telepathy from Jubes and telekinesis from Tammy ... " He frowned a bit at Tyler's power set, trying to figure that one out. "Doesn't make sense. He'd never care to heal anyone  _else_."

"You talking about Tyler?" Jana asked carefully.

"Yeah," Scott said, still frowning. "Pretty obvious what he wanted from you. Your friends ... well... They have 'future Marauder' stamped on their foreheads."

"Tyler can… He has the potential..." Jana paused and tried to reorder her thoughts. "When I read people, I can sort of see what they can do even if they can't do it yet. And he can turn powers on and off. I mean ... not now. But someday."

"That sounds more like him," Scott said with a nod. He took a moment to soak in the information she'd given him. Finally. "You can't trust just anyone because they're nice. You're street smart. You should know that by now. And anyone that has an entourage that looks like retired linebackers following them around just to talk to a kid—"

"I never  _trusted_ him," Jana said bitterly. "I just worked out a trade."

"But you never trusted us either," Scott pointed out. "Or you would have told us about this before this happened."

"But if I told you I was spying on you, you'd have kicked me out!" she said in a rush.

"No," Scott said firmly, shaking his head. "We would have hunted him down before he could hurt anyone — including you."

But Jana didn't believe him in the least; it was clear that she wanted to  _run_."You would have kicked me out or locked me up, then," she countered.

"Have you met half of our teachers?" Scott asked. "Do you want to venture a guess as to how many of them  _don't_ have some kind of actual on file criminal record in one country or another?"

"But — but I took pictures," Jana said. "Of all of you. Everyone in the house. Even the kids!"

"And you gave them to Essex, who used it to get us there so he could take our abilities. You're a kid. That's nowhere near the worst thing that we've dealt with in the student body. And we've never kicked a kid out."

"I didn't know he was going to kidnap all those kids," Jana swore. "You gotta believe me. I thought he just wanted to  _study_ … I didn't  _know_."

"I do believe you," Scott said reasonably. "But you'll need to make sure your whole story passes by Logan and K if you want to mend fences. Whatever you do — when you see them next, don't lie. At all. They will know."

"I'm not lying," Jana said stubbornly.

"I know you're not lying now," he replied. "But you've lied in the past. I'm just telling you that you  _can't_ lie anymore."

She pulled her knees up tighter under her chin and fell silent for a long time. "I… can try."

"Just be prepared," he warned. "Most of the staff will be open. You'll have to work hard to earn their trust, though. You'll have to work hard to earn mine, too." He paused, fixing her with a look. "But don't quit. Own up to the mistakes and fix it."

"You're not… you're not gonna lock me up?"

"Do you want me to lock you up?" Scott asked.

"No." She looked down again quickly. "But I was working for the bad guy.  _Shouldn't_ I get locked up?"

"You didn't know who he was," Scott said. "This would be an entirely different conversation if you came in here and told me you knew you were working for Sinister and did it anyhow."

"He was always talking about getting permission," Jana said in a rush. "I thought that's what doctors and researchers did. They get permission."

"He was talking about getting permission because he crossed a demon who stripped him of every power that he stole," Scott explained. "He was trying to force permission out of us so he could get it back — and obviously, he needed the healing worse than the rest." The last part of his own statement faded off as it really did sink in. Had he not been pushing for Logan, Scott might have thought there was still a chance he could come back. But without the healing... "He's gone now."

Jana's lower lip was quivering. She was trying very hard not to cry in front of anyone, even if it was just her and Scott. "I'm glad he's gone," she said fiercely.

"Me too," he said as he gave her a little squeeze on the shoulder. When it was obvious she was still on the verge of breaking down, he opened his arms up to her. "Come here; you did alright. You got out in one piece, and we're all more or less fine."

She regarded him carefully, unsure of the gesture, before she very carefully uncurled and leaned over to wrap her arms around him. As soon as she did, she fell apart when he hugged her. "I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry," she kept saying over and over.

He let her get it out of her system, hugging her until she settled out. "Come on; let's get some food in you. Tyler healed you, but you need to replace all the reserves he robbed to do that." He looked her over when she sat back in her chair. "Then off to bed. Rest. You'll feel better in the morning."

"So I can stay?" she asked carefully.

"I wish you would," he replied. "You need a safe place, and this is as safe as it gets."

"Logan's gonna hate me," Jana muttered. "I saw what Essex did to him."

Scott smirked. "You really think you're the first kid around him to be manipulated? He'll be okay. He won't hate you."

"He should," Jana insisted. "I've dealt with creeps my whole life. I  _knew_ this guy was one; I just didn't know how bad."

"You also knew he was a lot more powerful than you, and he lied to get what he wanted from you. He was just a higher class of creep than what you've encountered before," Scott said. "At risk of telling you the same thing Logan will — eventually — trust your instincts. Especially when it comes to creeps like that."

She nodded and let out a breath. "I want to stay," she said at last. "I'll work really hard. You'll see. I'll get good grades, and I won't cause any trouble, and I'll do anything you ask me to, honest."

"For now, let's get you upstairs, fed, and off to bed," Scott said, and though she still looked suspicious of how nice he was being, she let him lead her back to the kitchen, where she gratefully dug in to some of Annie's cooking.

Once he'd seen Jana off, Scott finally headed upstairs to his room — where he wasn't too surprised to find that the twins were gone, probably off with Logan and K. He could hear the shower running, so he slipped down the hall to check on the kids first, poking his head in on the movie snuggle fest going on there.

Logan was asleep, as was Natasha, but at the first sign of anyone coming near, K had opened her eyes and was glaring until she saw Scott step halfway in. "They'll be fine here, big guy," she said quietly. "I'm watching."

"I know they will," he replied just as quietly, watching with a soft smile the little pile of kids at the foot of the bed. Charlie had let Sying fall asleep next to her and was trying to tuck him in with her blanket, and Chance was nestled in next to Elin as usual, with Krissy in the middle kicking her feet up behind her happily as she watched the movie.

"I heard your little guy is a regular hero in the making, though," K told him. "Tried to protect the girls from the Marauders."

Scott looked proud as he glanced down at Chance, who had one arm around Elin. "He's just like his mother," he said with a little smile.

"Yeah, I think you're off there," K said with a little smile of her own. "I think he's a carbon copy of his father — my hero."

Scott smiled her way. "Is he alright?" he asked, then paused and reworded. "He is now. I mean ... did they hurt him when he was playing hero?"

"No," K said. "From the sounds of it, he bounced right off of them, and they weren't trying to do anything to him in retaliation."

"That won't last forever," Scott said thoughtfully.

"We'll teach him something useful if he's going to insist on being a hero," K said easily. "More substantial than a stick and a string, though."

Scott had to chuckle at that. "Kate will be disappointed."

"She'll just have to live with that," K replied. "I can't have my little buddy running around like it's the Stone Age."

"When he gets a little older," Scott said.

"A lot older," K agreed.

"When that happens," he said, his gaze on Logan for a half a second before he looked back to K, "would you help me teach them both?"

"Absolutely," she agreed. "Anything they want to learn."

"Thanks," he nodded. He glanced at the snuggled up kids one more time before he let out a breath. "When they're much older," he repeated to himself before he slipped out, closing the door behind him, to rejoin Annie.

When he got back, Annie had her hair in a towel, and she was pulling on some warm pajamas. She had a book on the nightstand, clearly ready to wait until he was done and expecting him to take a while longer, so when he came in earlier than she had been expecting him, she grinned and ran over to give him a kiss. "The twins went to the big sleepover down the hall," she told him as she took him by the hand and pulled him to bed. "We have the place to ourselves."

"Yes, we do," he agreed with a little smile before he gave her a kiss, and she pulled him gently down to her.


	10. Christmas Blueberries

After everything that had happened with Sinister, Tammy had noticed that Tyler was acting a little bit different lately. He was a little more affectionate and a little more… she would have called it possessive if he wasn't so sweet.

At first, she hadn't thought much of it. Everyone had been more on edge, even with Sinister dead. Just because he was gone didn't mean he hadn't left his mark.

But when it had been a little over a week and Tyler was still watching her with this look on his face that she'd never seen before…

"What?"

Tyler blinked. "Sorry?"

Tammy shook her head and gestured toward Tyler. "What's that look for?"

Tyler raised his eyebrows for a moment and then blew out his breath. "I was just thinking," he said slowly. "You know I love you, right?"

Tammy blinked. "I… yes," she said, not expecting that to be the answer.

"That's what I've been thinking about," Tyler said. "How much I love you and want you safe."

Tammy was surprised into a smile before she leaned over and kissed Tyler gently. "Love you too," she whispered, then giggled and gasped in surprise when his response was a playful, low growl as he wrapped her up in return.

* * *

It was just a few days before Christmas when Kate and Kurt returned from their anniversary trip, all smiles and snuggles and laughter when they teleported back into the mansion, dropping off their suitcases before they popped into the hallway outside Logan and K's room. They were sure to knock on the door — just in case their friends were sleeping or something — and let themselves in when they heard "come in" and the giggling that meant the kids were there too.

In fact,  _all_ of the kids were in there, completely absorbed in playing with some Tinker Toys on one side of the room, giggling and babbling at each other. Occasionally, one of them would finish a project and run over to show it off to Logan or K with proud little smiles so that the Howletts could appropriately praise their building efforts.

"Are you done yet?" Logan asked without looking up at Kate and Kurt. "Because if not, you need better babysitters next time."

Kurt laughed at that and shook his head. "Nonsense. You're the best babysitters we could ask for, clearly," he said, gesturing at all of the kids in the room.

"You must have come right here, then," K replied.

"We just arrived," Kurt said, now looking curious as he tipped his head at her. "Why — did something happen while we were gone?"

Logan looked weary as he let out a breath. "We had a little trouble with Sinister. But Scott fixed it. Shouldn't be a problem again."

Kate glared at that news, Kurt looked concerned. "What'd he do this time?" Kate asked, looking half ready to go and grab her bow and teach him a lesson herself.

"Kidnapped the little ones," he replied. "No one got hurt, though."

"No one but you," K corrected before she kissed his cheek.

Both Kate and Kurt looked alarmed, and almost in unison on hearing about the kidnapping they glanced at Krissy, who was totally happy working with Elin on some kind of Tinker Toy creation. Kurt sat down with wide eyes as he said, "I think you'd better tell us what happened - the full story."

"Scott would probably be able to tell you more," Logan admitted. "Long and short of it is that they got snatched. He wanted to force a few of us into allowing him to ... do what he does. But it didn't go that far."

"Well, that's something at least," Kurt said quietly, a bit more subdued, before he took a deep breath and looked to Logan. "But everyone is safe; none of the little ones were hurt?"

"Yep. All clear, everyone's fine."

"So I think we'll just have to keep using you as babysitters all the same,  _mein Freund_."

"At your own risk, I suppose," Logan replied.

Kate rolled her eyes at him openly before she made her way over to go join the kids, oohing and ahhing appropriately over the creation Elin and Krissy were working on before she asked Krissy, "Did you have a good time with Logan and K?" Her gaze never left Logan as she waited for the enthusiastic answer.

Krissy giggled and all but bounced in place. " _Ja!_  Des! Love Wogan! Love K!"

"Of course you do, sweetie," Kate agreed, pulling Krissy into a kiss before she let her get back to her little project, still looking at Logan with one eyebrow raised and an expression that clearly read, "See?"

"Kids have bad taste," Logan grumbled.

"Her  _good_ taste is genetic," Kurt corrected him with a smirk.

"They've pretty much taken over the place," K told them. "Since it happened, they all have been camping out in here.  _All_ of them."

Charlie nodded very seriously as she tugged on Kate's sleeve. "Wuv Wogan," she said.

"Seems to me they've pretty much made up their minds about you," Kate said with a little laugh as she booped Charlie's nose.

"Doesn't make 'em right," Logan argued.

"Don't let them hear you say that," Kate teased him. "Especially not Charlie. She seems to think she's always right; isn't that right, Charlie?"

Charlie drew herself up tall and nodded. "I smart. K said so!"

"How was the getaway?" K asked, trying to shift the discussion for Logan's sake.

"Warm," Kate said with a happy sigh. "I already miss the beach and the sun."

"Sorry to hear that," K replied. "You could have stayed a day or two longer. Unless … don't tell me the shopping queen isn't done with her holiday business?"

Kate gave K a dry look at that. "Puh-lease. I was done with that before we left."

"That doesn't surprise me," she said as she bumped shoulders with Logan.

"We just wanted to get home and spend a little time with Krissy before the mob hits for Christmas," Kate explained. "That... and Nat's due in a week or two, and I didn't want to miss it."

"Yeah, we're waiting for that," Logan agreed. "She's staying here until it's over. She camped out with us for a night too."

"You totally missed snuggly movie night," K said with a nod. "Half a dozen kids, us, and Nat. Clint ran snacks."

"So jealous," Kate said with a wide grin. "That sounds awesome."

"Was this a regular occurrence while we were gone?" Kurt asked with a teasing smirk.

"The kids, yeah," Logan replied.

"Oh come on. You know Clint running snacks was constant too," Kate laughed. "We'll have to stop by and say hi to them next." She leaned forward with the sparkle of laughter in her gaze. "How much is his head threatening to explode waiting for Zoe?"

"He's … in danger more often than not," Logan replied carefully.

"He wasn't there for Gerry, so this…" Kate shook her head and laughed. "Someone is going to need to hold him up when it finally happens, and I have a feeling that someone is going to end up being me."

"Then you got back just in time," K replied.

Kate chuckled and nodded her agreement before she got to her feet and kissed both Logan and K on the cheek. "Sounds like we've got some catching up to do. Do you mind terribly keeping Krissy with you?" she teased.

"I think you'd have more trouble breaking up their little party right now. Wait until it's feeding time at the zoo."

"You love it," Kate laughed.

"Oh, but you're feeding them," K countered.

"Been a while since we wrangled the wild X-kids," Kate chuckled. "Think we can handle it, honey?" she asked Kurt, who was simply grinning at her.

"I think we can manage," he said as he took her hand in his, and a moment later, the two of them had teleported off to go catch up with the rest of the mansion residents and find out how much they'd missed.

* * *

Christmas at the mansion was incredibly busy — with all the kids, a few students, and even some of the Avengers visiting. After all, Clint and Natasha were there, and a few people had bets as to when the new little one would be arriving.

And of course, the kids were having a much better Christmas than the last one, which they'd spent separated from Elin and sad about it. Chance had made Elin another Christmas present, which the ferals found out about early Christmas morning when he came running down to their room as soon as he was awake — and before he'd even woken up his parents to go downstairs to the tree — so that he could make sure the first Christmas present Elin got was his. He'd worked hard on the cute little craft heart, and he was very proud of it.

Elin was sleepy when Chance showed up, and she gave him a tired smile and a kiss on the cheek. "Cuddle," she said, clearly not ready to get up.

"Otay," he said with a little smile as he climbed in next to her, cuddled her, and kissed the top of her head. "Merry Chris-mas."

" _God Jul_ ," she replied with a little yawn, but they didn't end up staying there long — as James woke up a short while later, cuing them all to head downstairs.

"Swedish pancakes?" K asked Chance as she got the little ones ready to head down. "Or should we do something else?"

"Pancakes!" he declared happily. "Pleeeeease."

"I'll do my best," she replied, offering him her hand to head to the kitchen. "Lead the way, big guy."

Chance proudly led K down to the kitchen, where Alex and Lorna were already up, slightly jetlagged from their trip, and Erik was completely wrapped up with Magda in the corner.

"You two don't mind if I kick you out and commandeer the kitchen, do you?" K asked, with Chance and Elin more than ready to help.

"Not at all," Lorna said with a little smile when she saw how excited her little nephew was. "Are you helping, Chance?" she asked as he was already heading over to push a stool to the counter.

"K maknin pancakes, Aunt Lor-na!" Chance explained.

"Well in that case, we'll get out of her way," Alex said with a grin.

K leaned down to whisper to Chance that he should go give his baby cousin a kiss and introduce Aunt Lorna to little James. "You can help cut up berries when you get back."

Chance nodded enthusiastically as he all but skipped over to where Erik and Magda were, planting a very careful kiss on Magda's cheek. "Hi, Magda!" he said brightly. "Merry Chris-mas!"

Magda giggled at him and held her arms out so she could snuggled him properly. "Hi, Tance," she said, and he beamed and booped her nose and let her get back to snuggling her very happy grandfather before he skipped over to pull on Lorna's hand.

"Gotta meet James!" he explained, pulling her toward Logan. "Gotta meet the baby!"

Lorna beamed as she let Chance pull her over, and the grin only widened when she saw the very tiny little boy in Logan's arms. "Oh, he's beautiful," she said softly as Alex came over to glance over her shoulder as well.

"Wanna hold him for a minute?" Logan asked, already handing him over before she could answer properly.

"Please!" she agreed with a wide smile as she tucked the little guy neatly into her arms, smiling down at him only to melt over his very small hands, picking them up with the edge of her pinkie. "Oh, he's just perfect. How old is he?"

"Not quite a month," Logan told her.

"Really? He looks younger," Lorna said with one eyebrow raised. "I would have guessed days."

"Not exactly huge parents," Alex teased. "He was probably super tiny a few weeks ago."

"And perfect," Lorna agreed, still melting all over the little guy before she finally handed him back to Logan. "We should get out of your hair. I think Chance wants to make pancakes," she said, gesturing to the little boy, who was already on his stool and mashing up berries.

"They're closer to crepes," K told them. "But it's one of the few things I volunteer to cook."

"It sounds delicious," Alex said with a wide grin. "You do this every year?"

"When I'm around," she replied with a little smirk.

"Sounds like Lorna and I should come around more often," he replied with a matching smirk as he pulled his arm around Lorna's shoulders and started to steer her out of the kitchen.

With that, K dove into her work, and it wasn't too long before she had a reasonable pile of crepes, and, to the surprise of the Christmas guests, the smell of cinnamon started to become a bit thicker as the cinnamon rolls got closer to done, too. She set up a plate for each of the little ones that was awake and then invited Alex and Lorna to do the same — seeing as she'd made sure that she and Logan were covered.

The smell was starting to attract other guests too — and no one was really that surprised that Jubilee found her way down almost at the exact moment the cinnamon rolls were out of the oven and being frosted. She and Noh both gave Logan and K respectively 'good morning' kisses and quickly grabbed a few plates before the small army that was Kate and Kurt and their bamfs could arrive to get sugared up. The bamfs were clearly excited about the Christmas breakfast and were far more awake than any of the recently arrived adults, except maybe Jubilee.

"You have perfect timing," K told her as Jubilee sat down with what appeared to be the most heavily-frosted cinnamon roll off the pan.

"It's a gift," Jubilee said with a wide grin and a shrug before she took a big bite and let out an "mmm" to accentuate her point.

And while most of the little imps were all chattering to be first, one of the bamfs was hovering near K's shoulder and waiting for everyone else to get their food before he started to chatter at her.

She fixed up a plate with both the Swedish pancakes with berries and cream and a roll and handed it to him — though she didn't let go right away. "If I find out you jumped ship and didn't bring this to her, I'll skin you."

The bamf nodded very seriously and crossed an 'x' over his heart before he took the plate and teleported away with it.

"Where is he going?" Noh asked as he helped Sying get some of the sticky icing off his fingers.

"Natasha isn't up to a crowd," K explained. "She needs her strength, and I know Clint has a coffee maker up there already. Thought we'd send up some food to go with the coffee."

"Such a sweet little demon. So thoughtful," Kate said with a smile. She was playing with a couple other bamfs, who were all wearing little Santa hats, because Krissy seemed to  _love_ playing with them by stealing their hats and making them try to get it back. The bamfs seemed to love the game too — so there was a whole lot of giggling happening underneath the table where they were playing.

"Krissy," K half sang. "I have something for you."

Krissy, still giggling, poked her head out from underneath the table with a wide grin before she climbed out, wearing one of the bamfs' hats and pulling it firmly over her ears.

"Got you something special," K told her when she sat the plate down for her — the same everyone else got... but with a little handful of blueberries added on top.

Krissy grinned delightedly and squeaked out a little, " _Danke_!" before she dove into her plate, while Kate was giving K such a  _look_ across the table.

"Don't worry, angel; I have something for you too," K promised before she darted off to the kitchen again, only to return a few minutes later with a massive blueberry muffin — covered with sugar. "I know they're your favorite."

"You — you are just ridiculous," Kate said, shaking her head.

"Love you too," K countered with a grin before she headed back to sit down with Logan and the little ones. "I can't help it if the little purple elf loves them. She comes by it naturally."

"Yummy!" Krissy supplied — unhelpfully — as she tried to offer one of her blueberries to her snack buddy, Sying, in the spirit of Christmas and sharing.

"See?" K said, still grinning. "There must be something in them that she needs. Extra sugar. Something."

Kate rolled her eyes at K and shook her head as she went back to her pancakes. "You're full of it," she muttered as Kurt very quietly laughed at her and tried his best not to look like he was  _too_ amused when Kate cut him a look — though that only had him laughing more.

It wasn't long before the rest of the mansion residents, including the rest of the Summers clan, had made their way downstairs, so the kitchen was fairly full. Everyone was getting into the Christmas cheer when there was a knock at the door — and Kurt quickly teleported off to see who their unexpected visitor was.

It only took him a few minutes to come back wearing a  _huge_ grin, though, this time with one arm around Kitty's shoulders as she and Peter Quill, bearing gifts, joined the steadily-growing party.

"I'll bet she'd take a bite out of your muffin," K whispered to Kate with a smirk.

"Pretty sure I'm safe, seeing as she was the one pushing me to paper the boy," Kate teased.

"I was talking about your actual muffin, pervert," K laughed.

Kate rolled her eyes dramatically. "You need to come with subtitles."

"They'd be in Swedish," K warned.

"At least I could run them through translation then. K-speak doesn't  _have_ a translate feature on my phone," Kate countered.

"I'll have to use more ridiculous phrasing then," she decided as Kitty started to make the rounds — hitting Kate first with a 'hello' hug, since she was closest.

"Long time no see," Kate said as she pulled Kitty into a warm hug. "How's space?"

"Space is great," Kitty told her with a smile. "How about you guys? How's the little elfling?"

Kate gestured over to where Krissy was contentedly popping blueberries in her mouth. "She gets bigger every day," she said with a smile before she tipped her head toward Logan. "Have you met the newest addition yet, though? Because you  _should_."

Kitty  _beamed_ when she saw that Logan was holding a very tiny bundle, and she skipped her intended order of making the rounds for hugs to slide right up to him to peer down at the little guy. "He looks just like you!" she declared with a steadily widening grin as Logan simply handed him over to her and she immediately started to make him over.

"I'm sure you heard about him from Kurt," Logan said. "Or Jubes."

"Both," Kitty agreed, still grinning as she tickled James. "I love the name, by the way.  _So_ fitting."

"Considering? Yeah, it works for him," Logan agreed. "Her idea."

"Well, I love him," Kitty declared, snuggling him that much harder as she bounced to give Logan a kiss on the cheek.

"Grab a plate," K told her, taking James. "Coffee's fresh too."

"Thanks!" Kitty beamed as she loaded up on Swedish pancakes and cinnamon rolls and pulled Quill over as well. She was grinning through every bite as she said, "See, Peter?  _This_ is good food."

"Do you see me arguing? I'm not arguing," he said with a smirk as he bit into half of her cinnamon roll to prove his point and broke into a wide grin at the expression of betrayal on her face.

"Stick around," Jubilee said. "Annie has  _plans_ tonight."

"Her Christmas dinners are a work of art," Kate agreed, which had Annie blushing with pleasure.

"I'm adding something for the grown-ups," K said, sharing a little smirk with Logan. "Or … those that want to try it. Little bit of mulled wine."

"Sounds like fun," Quill said with a wide smile and a nod as he tried to steal another bite of Kitty's food and she phased her hand through his to grab it back.

"So, what brings you our way?" Bobby asked Kitty as he refilled his coffee mug. "If we'd known you were coming, we would have put out stockings for you or something," he teased.

"We weren't sure if we'd make it here in time, actually," Quill explained, casually leaning back with one arm around Kitty's shoulders. "Ran into some trouble with the Shi'ar earlier this month, and they screwed up my ship. Took us forever to get it back up to snuff." He pulled a face. "They've been real pains lately."

Nobody missed the fact that Tommy, who was sitting next to Erik and making faces for Magda to laugh at, sat up a bit straighter at that and shot a proud sort of smirk at his grandfather as he said, "We haven't had any problems with them lately."

Quill chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, shortest invasion ever," he said with a smirk. "But just 'cause they're not bothering Earth doesn't mean they're not being a pain for the rest of the galaxy." He shrugged one shoulder up to his ear. "It's been a busy year."

"No kidding," K muttered under her breath with a raised eyebrow Kitty's way.

"Which is why we wanted to come here and take a break and just…  _be with family_ ," Kitty cut in with a wide smile.

"I'd hope you would know that you can come visit anytime,  _katzchen_ ," Kurt said with a smile. "You don't have to have a  _reason_."

"Oh, I know," Kitty said happily. "We just happened to have a reason this time. And that reason was total exhaustion. Seriously. Space is nuts!" She grinned at Quill, who was rolling his eyes at her hard.

"Well,  _you're_ the one dating a Guardian of the Galaxy," Kate pointed out with a smirk. "You brought that one on yourself, Kitty."

"Yes," Kurt said with a thoughtful look her way. "It's been how many years,  _katzchen_? Six? Seven?" He smirked the slightest bit. "You'd think you would be used to space travel by now."

"Not quite seven," she said, giving Kurt a bit of a look when the thoughtful expression on his face deepened at that. "Hey, don't do that, fuzzy Elf. You know I don't do anything if I don't love it."

"Yes, of course I know that," he assured her, but if anything, the look was only getting worse as he turned his attention to Peter Quill. "And do you know that, Peter?" he asked, his tone light but his gaze never leaving Quill's face.

"'Course I do," Quill said easily, meeting Kurt's gaze with a look that was completely unconcerned.

"Seven years?" K asked as she leaned forward. "Really? So. Do you love  _it_? Seems like you should. Or you'd be finding something better to do with your time." She smiled wickedly Kitty's way. "Sure glad no one's  _pressuring you_  into anything prematurely."

Kitty glared at K for a moment, but it didn't quite have the heat that anyone had expected as she said with a little smirk, "Oh, I definitely still love it."

"Glad to hear it," K replied, simply dropping it — something Kitty did  _not_ do for Kate. And though it was clear Kitty hadn't been expecting K to back down, she shrugged and decided to run with it for the time being — and simply enjoy the day without feeling like she had to explain herself.

It wasn't long before everyone fell back into the usual easy conversation as they headed to the living room, where the Christmas tree and all the presents were. Charlie and Chance went right back into their roles of "running the show" — divvying up presents and generally making sure everyone was having fun. Chance even gave Kitty and Peter Quill some of his candy from his stocking so they didn't feel left out.

They were just moving into the portion of the morning when all the kids were breaking off to go play with their new toys when Jess and Gerry arrived so that Gerry could get spoiled by his dad and Natasha. He was very proudly showing everyone his Spidey hoodie and couldn't wait for his dad to open the gift that he helped his mom pick out — a coffee mug that he saw in the store that had a picture of a dog on it that looked  _just_ like Lucky that he was determined  _had_ to be Clint's.

Jess looked a little bit stressed out about the whole holiday, but she eased up considerably after K slipped her a glass of warm, spiced wine and told her to join her next to Logan, where James was soundly sleeping through the entire affair.

"How's his first Christmas?" Jess asked once she had taken a few sips.

"Not very eventful, so far," Logan told her. "How are you holding up with all ... this?"

She let out a sigh as she gestured toward where Gerry was enthusiastically playing with the other kids. "He has  _way_ more energy than me," she admitted. "And he was a little disappointed that Clint and Nat were here this morning. I know Nat can't travel, but he wanted them at our place."

"Really? Seems like he'd have wanted to play with the mob," Logan said. "Practically the ringleader. Especially with Annie sugaring them up like she likes to do."

"At least when she does that, it's  _here_ ," Jess pointed out with a smile. She leaned back and took a long sip of the spiced wine. "Mmm. That's nice."

"Traditional. And … it looked like most of the adults could use it," K explained. "Used to make gallons of this stuff every Christmas."

"Thanks," Jess said, saluting her with the glass. She looked toward where the kids were playing and leaned into Logan. Gerry was definitely trying to be the ringleader, though Charlie was the one trying to pull Bobby into joining them to go out sledding.

"Come ooooon," Charlie said, pulling on him to get him to join them. "We need Iceman!"

When Krissy got in on the pulling by simply wrapping around Bobby's leg and giggling madly, there was really no hope for him, and so he finally agreed — but only, he said, after everyone had gotten their coats and mittens on, which was a whole new adventure as their parents had to get them into scarves, coats, the whole nine yards.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Gerry was all but bouncing in place as he waited for Annie to finish wrestling Chance into his mittens.

"Gerry, mind your manners," Jess called out in a tired tone.

Gerry paused and let out a long sigh. "Pleeease," he said before he grabbed Chance's hand and started to pull his best friend outside with him. "Thank you, Miss Annie!" he called over his shoulder before the kids simply disappeared outside to play.


	11. Little Hawk Takes A Spill

The kids half tumbled outside, with Bobby and a few of the other adults trailing after them to keep an eye on things as they went, grabbing up a sled and some little inner tubes while Bobby got to work setting things up for them.

The youngest of the group were with Kurt and the bamfs in the little inner tubes, happily sliding around on short hills and giggling madly. Krissy kept shouting for the bamfs to go "faster!" and the bamfs seemed to heartily agree — which was why Kurt was keeping an eye on things to make sure they didn't go overboard.

But Gerry and the twins were all piled onto the sled and  _squealing_ with delight as Bobby got them going fast. Gerry was in the front shouting "faster" almost as loudly as his little "cousin" Krissy was, and he was so into it that he wasn't quite holding on when the sled made a turn.

The squealing and laughter immediately gave way to very loud screaming and crying as soon as Gerry hit the ground, and the other adults rushed over to see what had happened as the little blonde boy was crying and holding his arm.

Clint looked totally panicked as he knelt down in the snow next to his little boy and tried to calm him down. "Gerry, it's okay. Can I see?" he repeated over and over again as the twins rushed and tumbled over to see if their friend was okay, both of them with wide eyes and obvious looks of concern.

Gerry was still crying hard but finally let Clint take a look at his arm, and to Clint's credit, he didn't look concerned at all until he had pulled Gerry up into his arms and was looking over his head so that Gerry couldn't see the panicked-Dad look on his face. "It's okay, buddy. We'll get you fixed right up," he promised.

"Can I help with that?" Kurt asked gently as he took a few steps toward them. "I'm sure Bobby can get the little ones inside on his own."

Clint looked at Gerry to see if the little guy was up to 'porting, and when Gerry nodded, Clint looked up at Kurt again. "Do your thing, Nightcrawler."

Kurt tried to give him a reassuring smile as he put a hand on both of them for good measure and teleported them right into the living room, where most of the adults were still gathered, only to turn toward Hank and Tyler. "I think we could use your help, doctors. Our little hawk had a spill."

Both of them quickly made their way over to where Clint was gently trying to shush Gerry. Jess looked alarmed and disentangled herself from cuddling with Logan and James to run over to see what had happened.

After Hank did a quick assessment, he peeked up at Clint and Gerry with a serious expression. "I'll meet you in the lab."

Kurt dipped his head down to catch Gerry's attention. "I'll bet we can beat him there if you're up to it."

Gerry sniffled and rubbed the fist of his left hand against his eyes but nodded all the same.

"Would you like Tyler to join us too?" Kurt asked. "I think I can take him with us."

"Yes!" Gerry called out quickly, probably louder than he meant to, before he hid in his dad's shirt again.

Tyler gave him a little smile, and in a flash of smoke, they were in the lab — about a minute before Hank got there, already directing them on where to take Gerry for an X-ray.

"If it's not out of line too badly, I think Tyler can take care of it quickly enough," Hank said. "With a little something for the pain, of course."

"Hear that, bud?" Clint said, trying very hard to not look like he was still upset on Gerry's behalf. "You think Lifeguard here is up to fixing your wing for you?"

Gerry picked his head up to size Tyler up for a second before he nodded. "Like when you fix Dad?" he asked Tyler with wide eyes.

"Maybe better," Tyler said with a smirk. "We'll have to see what Dr. Blue's pictures say first."

"He's gonna take pictures of your arm," Clint explained as Hank led them to where he needed them to go. "You're gonna get to see what it looks like in there," he added as Gerry's eyes widened.

"That's  _gross_."

"Just the bones," Tyler told him. "None of the gross stuff."

Gerry considered that for a moment before he sort of smiled. "That is kind of cool," he admitted.

Tyler nodded and looked over to where Hank had it all set up. "Come on; let's see what you have in there," he said. "Cross your fingers that it's not  _too_ bad."

"Cuz then you can fix me up," Gerry said with a knowing nod.

"Cuz then I can fix you up when you're awake," Tyler said. "I'm gonna fix you up either way."

Gerry's eyes got really wide, and he seemed to forget all about being hurt as he looked Tyler's way. "I wanna be awake! I wanna  _see_!" he insisted.

"If it's bad, trust me, you don't wanna be awake," Tyler told him. "Either way, I won't leave you here until you're all done, okay?"

"Okay," Gerry agreed, without looking away from Tyler. "I don't want it to be bad. I wanna  _see_."

Tyler nodded as he led the two of them over to Hank. "Either way, I'll make sure it doesn't hurt," he told Clint.

"Good," Clint whispered his way as Gerry was distracted asking Hank about the "inside my arm machine." "Kid loves you; I don't want him to feel like he's getting hurt when he's too young to understand what you do."

"I don't want him scared," Tyler said. "He'll be okay either way, but I have a feeling it'll be alright. I'll check for sure  _my_ way before we start anything, though."

"Thanks, Ty. Seriously," Clint said as Gerry waved them over with an excited look painted all over his face.

"Come see my bones!" he shouted at the two men.

Tyler took a quick look at the picture as Hank explained it to both Gerry and Clint while Tyler laid a hand on Gerry's hand and tried to 'see' if there was anything that wasn't showing on the images. But all seemed fine — a simple break, nothing terribly out of line that wouldn't snap into place with a little coaxing.

As Hank laid out what they were going to do, he got the medications ready for Gerry and simply gave him a shot to take the edge off and generally not make it hurt. While they gave it a few minutes to take full effect, Tyler pulled up a chair next to Gerry.

"Okay, bud," he said, "can you give me your hand for a minute? The one that hurts?"

Gerry nodded carefully as he looked down at his hands and pulled his hurt arm over. "It feels weird," he said.

"Yeah," Tyler said. "It's gonna feel weirder in a minute. Try to relax. Tell me about the game you were playing earlier with Chance and Charlie." He put his other hand on Gerry's shoulder and started to concentrate as Gerry told him the story, working everything back to where it should be.

"We were going  _really_ fast," Gerry said with a little loopy grin as he finished his story. "I forgot to hold on."

"You're gonna hold on better next time, aren't you?" Tyler asked.

Gerry nodded very seriously. "For sure."

"Alright then. How about you give me five?" he asked, raising his hand up and waiting for Gerry to pick up the freshly healed arm.

Gerry gave him a quick high-five, and it wasn't until after that he realized what had happened, and he broke into little fits of giggles as he looked over his new arm. "You fixed it! You fixed it!"

"That's what you wanted, right?" Tyler teased.

"Yep!" He motioned Tyler closer with an excited giggle, and as soon as Tyler was within range of Gerry's short arms, he wrapped them both around Tyler's neck. "You fixed it!"

"Glad it was an easy one," Tyler said as he gave the little guy a hug right back.

Gerry nodded enthusiastically. "That wasn't scary at all! That was really easy!' he said, all but dancing in place. "That was  _really cool_!"

"Yeah, Ty's pretty great, isn't he, bud?" Clint said, the relief obvious in his voice.

"A Hawkeye's best friend," Tyler teased.

"My best friend is Chance, but you can be my friend too!" Gerry said.

"That's how I met Kate," Tyler told him. "She'd broken her arm too."

Gerry's eyes were wide. " _No way_ ," he said, totally enraptured. "I'm just like Aunt Katie!"

"Yeah, but her arm was hurt a  _lot_ worse," Tyler said. "You should ask her about it."

"Did you have to fix her up while she was asleep?" Gerry asked, wide-eyed and solemn. "It was that bad?"

"She should have been asleep," Tyler said. "But she was awake. We were way out in the middle of the woods, and it needed to happen fast."

"Wow." Gerry was totally wrapped up in Tyler's story, staring at him in pure awe. "That sounds really scary."

"But she's fine now, right? Nothing to worry about."

"And now I'm just like her!" Gerry said, beaming. "My arm is all fixed too." He showed it off by flexing it and making a 'muscle' and then grinning at Tyler before he give him another hug. "Thank you  _so_ much!"

"You're welcome, buddy. No one should be busted up on Christmas," Tyler told him before he ruffled Gerry's hair. "How about we head upstairs again and get some cookies?"

Gerry nodded his agreement and hooked his arms around Tyler's neck to be picked up, clearly content to stay with his new best friend as they made their way back upstairs. He was still a little loopy and needed someone to carry him anyway, but Tyler was  _clearly_ his favorite choice.

When they got to the top of the steps, Jess was headed their way, but Gerry stopped her in her tracks with a giant smile as he waved at her.

"Mommy, Mommy, Ty fixed my arm, see?" he said, waving his hands at her to illustrate. "See? It's all better!"

Jess let out all her breath and broke into a little smile as she kissed her little boy on the cheek. "Yes, I see."

"Ty's my  _favorite_ ," Gerry said in his best attempt at a conspiratory whisper, giving Tyler a little squeeze around the neck as he said it. "He can fix Dad and Aunt Katie and  _me!_ "

"He sure can," Jess agreed as she fell into step with them on the way to some of Annie's cookies — and it wasn't two seconds after they were within sight of the kids that they were mobbed.  _All_ of the little ones wanted to know the story of Gerry's adventure, which he told them all with wide eyes, loopy grins, and excited bouncing as he munched happily on his cookies and described the "inside my arm machine" to his captivated audience.

"All better," Elin said confidently as she gave him a little squeeze and headed off to other things.

Charlie had to examine his arm for herself before she could make the same pronouncement, of course, but when she had decided he was definitely "all better," she zipped over to her mom to get another cookie for Gerry and all but shove it at him. "Sorry you cwied," she said as she gave him the cookie.

He grinned at her lopsidedly. "It's okay," he promised. "It hurt a  _lot_ , but nothing hurts anymore. It just feels kinda weird still."

"That's the drugs," Tyler told Jess. "We gave him a little something just in case. It should wear off in a few hours."

"I was wondering why he wasn't already back to running around at top speed," she said quietly.

"The rapid healing hurts," Tyler told her. "We didn't want him getting scared."

Jess smiled and squeezed his arm at that. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "He really does look up to you." She paused and had to smirk. "In so many ways." She watched for a moment longer as Chance offered to play "quiet games" and Gerry and the twins headed off to play with the fingerpaints before she finally let out a long sigh and went back to join Logan on the couch, shaking her head at her little boy… who was growing up so much like his dad. Bandages and all.

* * *

Annie had gone all out again on the Christmas dinner — which was especially impressive, considering how many people she was feeding. Not only all the X-Men but also Annie's entire family had come up for the meal, and of course, Tony had dropped by with presents for all the little ones and his two favorite X-Men. So it was a pretty full house.

But she was totally in her element, a twinkle in her eyes as she swept around the kitchen, singing little Christmas carols to herself as she piled food onto serving trays, her long brown hair swept up and pinned in a bun and her apron half covered in flour and other baking residue.

The dinner looked magnificent, and all the Christmas guests were sure to tell her so, but that wasn't what had her in such a good mood as she swept her way through the dining room to lay out her delicious creations.

No, she was in a good mood for a completely different reason as she sat down at last beside her husband, and he grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed it.

"You've really outdone yourself this year, Annie," Storm said with a smile.

"I had a lot more to do this year," Annie replied with a little glance at the feral family across the table before she settled into a smile. "And I wanted things to be perfect." She glanced at Scott as she squeezed his hand in return, trying not to betray how excited she was.

At that, Scott took a deep breath and stood where he was to get the group's attention, clearing his throat. "Before everyone gets too full of Annie's good cooking, we have one last Christmas surprise," he said as Annie beamed next to him. He glanced her way and broke into a wide, honest-to-God grin. "We're expecting."

There was a beat of silence before most of those in attendance began to all but trip over each other in the mad rush to congratulate them. Kate and Kurt were there first, cheating by way of

teleportation to wrap both of them up in a hug while Logan and K tried to corral Krissy and Elin with the rest of the kids while Tony looked almost shocked as he held James. If history was anything to go by, the Howletts knew already anyway.

"That's great news!" Kate gushed as she wrapped up Annie. "How far along are you?"

"Not very," Annie admitted with a smile. "But we wanted to tell everyone while we had you all gathered here." She squeezed Kate back as she added, "We only just found out yesterday."

Kate beamed, but she didn't get to say much else as both of Annie's sisters pushed past her to wrap up their youngest sister in huge hugs and gush about how excited they were — and Leslie Ann was wrapped around Scott's middle asking if she could babysit for them.

Of course, it was obvious that Scott and Annie hadn't told the twins yet, because they would have spoiled the surprise, but once they figured out what was going on, Charlie was giggling madly, but Chance looked shocked and stubbornly told Logan, "I don't  _want_ another sister."

"Maybe you'll get a brother," Logan told him quietly.

Chance seemed to consider this for a moment and slowly relaxed his glare. "I guess a brother would be otay," he said with his shoulders slightly slumped.

"The thing about little sisters," K told him very quietly, "if you get one? Is that they  _need_ someone to watch out for them — because they can't ever do it themselves."

The little boy tipped his head her way and nodded a few times as he thought about it. "I can help," he said thoughtfully.

"It'll be a big job," K warned him. "They're always getting into trouble, and bigger kids might pick on them accidentally."

"I can help!" Gerry offered, climbing up next to his best friend. "I got a little sister coming. We can take care of 'em together!"

"There you go; you can see how hard it is when Gerry does it first," K told him. "Unless you get a brother. Then it's even  _worse._ "

Both little boys looked wide-eyed at that. "Even  _worse_?" Chance repeated.

"Sure; they'll be in your stuff all the time, and they're just as reckless as the big boys because they  _think_ they're as big as you — so you have to keep them from getting hurt."

Gerry was nodding along to everything K said, but Chance looked more concerned. "Imma need lots of help," he said quietly.

"Pretty sure Elin and Krissy will help you either way," K told him.

"And Sying!" Gerry chimed in helpfully. "He always tries to help, even when he shouldn't."

"Especially if Krissy's there," K agreed, not even trying to hide the smirk.

"Sying likes Krissy," Chance whispered.

"I thought so," K whispered back.

"Don't tell anybody. It's secret," he insisted.

She nodded her head and put one finger over her lips as she winked at him — and Logan was quietly chuckling at the whole situation.

The rest of the evening was filled with congratulations and Annie's delicious cooking as the conversation alternated between the usual Christmas fare and asking Annie and Scott if they had any names picked out yet.

"Well, we have a ready-made girl's name," Annie said with a sly smile. "Since we thought Chance was going to be a girl."

"You've got plenty of time to think about it," K said as the happy couple finally made their way to the table.

"We'll have to start considering boys' names," Scott said. "We had a few the first time around, but... " He gave K an unrestrained grin. "We've got time."

She got up and crossed over to give them both a hug and press a glass of the warm wine into his hand. "Congratulations, big guy."


	12. Seven Years In The Making

The mansion was still full come New Year's Day. Everyone had stuck around to ring in the new year and to celebrate the twins' and Kate's birthdays — but it was still relatively quiet that morning. Everyone was sleeping in after the long day of celebrations they'd just had.

Logan and K, as usual, were some of the first up — and had already gotten the little ones settled as they got into the newspaper when Kurt arrived with Krissy. Kate was still sound asleep upstairs, but Krissy had woken up and wanted someone to play with her. Kurt was still slightly groggy as Krissy told him in her half-babbled way about all the fun she'd had yesterday.

" _Guten Morgen_ ," Kurt said as he slid into the seat next to Logan with his coffee.

"Right back atcha," Logan muttered. "Not sleepin' in with the rest of the crew?"

"Krissy wanted to play," Kurt explained. "And I thought I'd let Kate sleep in this morning."

"You should bring her a cup of coffee and a muffin," K said without looking up from her paper. "And maybe something to eat too."

Kurt chuckled. "Oh, I think I'll let her sleep. We were up late," he said with a little impish smirk.

"I'll bet you were," she replied quietly. "Just about everyone had a late night last night, I think."

"Well, a new year; new beginnings," Kurt said with a light shrug.

"Well phrased," she said just low enough for Logan to hear and chuckle.

"But perhaps I'll bring her some coffee later," Kurt said over his own mug. "I can't promise she'll wake up, though."

"Yeah, I'm sure. You can leave Krissy with us if you need privacy," Logan told him.

"I just may," Kurt said, still smirking to himself as he watched Krissy and Elin babbling to each other — as was their usual morning routine.

"You better go," K advised. "That wistful look is potent. Krissy's covered."

"I don't have a  _look_ ," Kurt laughed quietly.

"You do, and if it was just you, I wouldn't care. But it's contagious, and I am so not ready to go there again. Go. Away," K shot back.

Kurt laughed before he nodded and teleported away in a poof of purple smoke that had Krissy looking up and saying, "Bamf," before she went back to playing with Elin.

"Aw, I just missed the Elf, didn't I?" Kitty said from the doorway as the last of the smoke dissipated. "Rotten timing. I wanted to talk with him!"

"He'll be back down in a few hours," Logan replied. "Something on your mind, kitten?"

"Just making plans for the new year," Kitty said, shrugging lightly before she stole some of Pete's special holiday creamer.

"Yeah, no kidding," K said with a nod. "Ready to go right now."

"Well, don't leave until tomorrow, okay? I've got plans."

"Promised Nat I'd stick around until she had her little one," Logan told her.

"Well good," Kitty said with a decisive nod. "Don't make any plans today, alright? You're mine later on. It's a surprise. Promise you'll like it."

"That's a big promise," Logan said. "But I'll be here."

"Come on, it's  _me_ ," Kitty pointed out. "You know I wouldn't lie to you," she added with a little smile before she bounced over to kiss both little girls on top of the head.

The little ferals shared a look, but went back to the paper in short order, and after a good stretch of time, Annie and Scott made their way in — which ended up simply being a hand off in responsibility for the kids as K and Logan took James upstairs to lay him down and get some peace and quiet while Elin and Krissy helped the twins play with their new toys.

When Kitty poked her head back in the kitchen at nearly noon, Logan's prediction had come true: Kate and Kurt both were snuggled in together in a quiet corner nursing a cup of coffee each.

"There you are, Fuzzy Elf!" she called out brightly. "I need to borrow you. That okay, Kate?"

Kate looked up from her coffee for a moment before she tiredly nodded and waved her hand. "Bring him back in one piece."

"I'll make sure he comes back in as good or better shape than I found him," Kitty called out before she grabbed Kurt's arm and phased him down through the floor. She took him down to a secured ready room and simply grinned at him for a long moment before she even said anything.

"I need a favor," Kitty said, still grinning. "But it  _needs_ to stay a surprise."

"Of course," Kurt promised quickly, grinning already at the look on her face that promised something  _amazing_.

"Okay. Good. Great. So. Tonight — if you're up to it? — Peter and I are getting married." She grinned wider if possible and looked entirely hopeful as she held her breath and clasped her hands behind her back, bouncing on her toes.

He blinked at her for a moment before he swept her up into a hug and spun her around. "Of course!" he said through the spin. "When? Where? What do you need?"

"I need you to keep it a secret — don't even tell Kate, please. I'm going to spring it on Logan just beforehand. And … we're doing it here. In Storm's garden. At sunset." She nearly giggled. "I have Rachel in on it — we've got it all covered."

"How do you plan on getting all the guests there — or would you like me to do that?" he teased.

She waved her hand with a little smirk. "Like I said: Rachel has it all covered. She'll just send them a strong suggestion to go to the garden if we can't ease them there any other way. But we're going to tell them that I have a surprise for everyone, and they'll show."

"That would work," he agreed, still grinning before he swept her up in another hug. "Congratulations,  _katzchen_! When did this happen?"

"Well …" she said, hedging a little bit. "We … kinda had a little scare before Thanksgiving, and … well?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of scare?" he asked carefully.

"I … thought I was pregnant?" she said, wincing. "And … I know Logan would kill him if that happened. So, we talked it over — and we decided to get married."

"Yes, if you'd come here with news like that…" Kurt looked a bit stern for a second before he couldn't quite hold the expression and burst into his wide smile again. "But I'm glad — you should be happy,  _katzchen_."

"I was all ready to argue with him — you know, it's not like he's got any room to talk," she said with a smirk. "But this … is much better."

"Yes," he agreed. "And much safer for Peter. Logan wouldn't be the only one with something to say about it — and I  _do_ have room to talk," he teased.

"Well, what ifs don't really matter," she said as she gave him another tight hug. "What matters is that you're ready to make it official tonight — and we surprise everyone."

"I won't tell a soul," he promised. "Not until they're all in the garden and ready to be dazzled."

"Oh, Kurt — one more thing," Kitty said, looking like she was actually asking a favor this time. "I need someone to hide Illyana when she gets here."

"That I can do," Kurt promised. "But why?"

"Because she is horrible at keeping secrets, and she had told Scott that she was way too busy to show up for Christmas — so he'll know something's up if she appears in the middle of her very busy schedule for no reason," Kitty replied. "But I need my maid of honor."

He beamed at that and nodded before he kissed her temple. "Anything you need," he promised.

* * *

In the garden, Tammy and Tyler were in their favorite spot — holding hands on the hanging swing — when Rachel came in and nearly made a beeline right for them. "What are you doing here?" she asked, hands on her hips as she half glared at them.

"Um ... swinging?" Tammy said.

"Didn't realize that wasn't allowed," Tyler added.

"I'm using the garden later. All of it. But … I could probably use a hand," Rachel said to herself more than to the kids.

"What do you need?" Tyler asked.

"I'm not telling you what's going on, so don't ask that," Rachel said before she started walking to the far end of the greenhouse. "But you can stay out here and work. I need a cleared path here." She walked over to a pair of pots that Scott's niece had been working on for the past week to get roses to bloom. "And those need to be moved … here." She looked up at the two of them. "Storm won't mind."

Tammy and Tyler glanced at each other before they shrugged. "Shouldn't take too long," Tammy said as she stretched out her hand to get things moving.

"Oh, yes, well…. You and I have a few thousand twinkle lights to hang," Rachel said.

"Twinkle lights, huh?" Tammy had to smile a little. "I'm guessing this isn't just a birthday surprise for your little brother?"

"He loves twinkle lights," Rachel replied quickly. "Just get to work. It has to be clean. Swept up, picked up. And we don't have a ton of time."

"Then I guess it's a good thing you ran into us," Tammy said as she followed Rachel to get the twinkle lights set up while Tyler started to clear a path.

The residents and guests of the mansion had all started to convene in the garden, none of them sure of what was happening until they got there and saw the twinkle lights and the decorations. But to Kitty's delight, according to the chatter, it sounded more like they were under the impression that this was an announcement — not the real deal.

Logan and K had been caught up and were — to no one's surprise — running late. James had gotten fussy and it had taken a little longer to get him to settle down than it usually did. As they were finally heading out, Kurt and a handful of his bamfs appeared just outside their door with very expectant looks on their faces.

"We're waiting for you," Kurt said in a teasing tone, though he had one eyebrow raised, and a bamf was on each of the ferals trying to straighten their hair out and make them a little more presentable, giggling with excitement.

"What the hell's up with the demon brats?" Logan muttered as he batted at one to back off.

"They're just excited," Kurt said with a shrug.

"Well, tell 'em to stop before I start breakin' tails."

Kurt didn't need to tell them, though, because at the threat, they very quickly backed off, though they were all but dancing in place and cackling with excitement. Kurt wasn't much better, either, because apparently he had waited long enough, and he took hold of both of his friends to simply teleport them to the garden, one hand on K's back to keep her steady once they arrived before he disappeared quickly in another poof of smoke once Logan had hold of her as well — off to get into place so he could officiate with one of his practically-trademarked wide grins.

"I think we missed a memo," K said quietly, and Logan nodded his head in agreement as they looked at the decorations and the crowd.

"Oh good — you're here!" Kitty called out as she bounded over to Logan, grinning from ear to ear.

"What are you doin', half-pint?" Logan asked as she pulled at his arm.

"The better question is: what are  _you_  doing right now?" she said with a grin that was all sorts of trouble. "Because unless it's walking me right down that path to where Kurt is, you are  _wrong_."

He raised his eyebrows at her for a second before he pulled her into a tight hug and gave her a little kiss. "Bout damn time you two pulled your heads outta your asses. Thought I was gonna have to kill him and chuck the body into the sun."

"Well, how about instead you walk me down there to him, huh?" she countered, her eyes twinkling.

"I will, but you're robbin' me of my pre-game threats," he teased before he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Tell me what you want me to do, darlin'." He offered his arm and had to smile at her bouncy little laugh.

She turned to where Kurt was — with a few bamfs doing their excited cackle — and called out, "Hit it!" which had one of the little guys getting the music started so she could pull her arm through Logan's. "Just right down that path," she directed him in what was more a giggle than anything else.

He didn't wait to be told  _again,_ and as they headed down the path, the crowd that was near the open walkway backed up a bit more, all of them grinning widely at them as they made their way to Kurt — and an excited but slightly nervous-looking Peter Quill.

K had been ported up to sit with Jubilee and Noh, who were both grinning widely, and Jubilee was bouncing in place as she covered her mouth with both hands and watched as her fellow 'sister' pulled a fast one on all of them.

Kurt, of course, was beaming outright as he watched the assembled friends and family going from surprise to excitement to sheer joy, and he and Kitty shared a little impish smile before she'd quite made it to Peter. And Logan handed her off once he'd given her a little kiss and turned to Peter with an unmistakable glare in warning.

The grinning minister looked out over the garden and couldn't help but start it off by saying, "Dearly beloved friends and family, I assume you've figured out why we're gathered here today," which got more than a few little chuckles across the garden. He turned his grin to Kitty and Peter and saw the way Peter wasn't even paying attention to anything but Kitty's hands in his. "It's been a union a long time in the making, so I won't stand in the way and make a long speech," he said, and for just a second, he caught Peter Quill looking very, very grateful.

Kitty had co-opted Elin and Sying as last-minute flower girl and ringbearer, and the little sparkly maple leaf came running forward with the rings as soon as Kurt looked his way, positively  _beaming_  with excitement.

Kitty and Peter were both clearly ready to  _be married_. Neither of them had written their own vows and simply repeated the basic ones that Kurt gave them, and Peter jumped the gun a bit on the "kiss the bride" section of the wedding by kissing Kitty as soon as she had her ring on — before Kurt had even gotten to the part where he declared them man and wife — though he sheepishly laughed and let Kurt finish before he did it again.

When it was over, Kitty was the definition of the blushing bride as she let everyone know that the party was going to continue in the ballroom, and she expected everyone there. Of course, there were really no complaints as everyone, finally over their surprise, now wanted to be able to congratulate the two of them and also to ask how the heck they decided to pull the wedding off this way.

As Kitty entertained one old friend after another, K made her way to the still widely grinning groom with a glass of wine. "Congratulations," she told him as she handed it to him. "I'd love it if you told me how you two decided to do this as a surprise after all this time."

"Her idea," Quill said with an easy shrug. "I told her back when we got engaged that she could make the arrangements. She's the one with the huge family."

She took his arm and led him over to a quieter corner where she had the wine stashed. "Tell me all about it."

He grinned at her crookedly. "Which part — the wedding planning or the rest of it?" he teased.

"Well, I really only got to meet you a few times, and … it seems you're family now. So, how about all of it?"

"Fair enough," he said, leaning back in his seat with two of the chair legs off the ground as he casually launched into the story of how they met — how she ended up staying in space with him on his ship, that sort of thing.

The more Quill talked and told her what had happened, the more K liked him, and it must have shown pretty plainly, because it wasn't too long before Logan came over to find out what was going on.

"Is there a reason you've got that 'this one is now mine' look goin' on?" Logan asked, frowning a bit Quill's way.

"Yes," K said, nodding, before she pulled Logan down to sit with her. "Because he's now one of mine. Did she tell you about …  _everything_?"

Logan looked between the two of them for a moment and shook his head. "What, everything?"

K took a deep breath and poured Quill another glass of wine. "Everything you just told me? Tell him."

Quill had one eyebrow raised Logan's way before he looked K's way. "Everything? I mean ... he already knows how we met."

"Yeah, he knows that part, I'm sure. Tell him about everything leading up to just before the proposal and then after. He doesn't know that stuff."

Quill seemed honestly surprised as he gestured for Logan to take a seat. "Thought Kitty would've told you," he said. "It's pretty old news by now."

"She skimped on the good stuff," K told him. "Just go on, little star prince."

Quill still looked surprised, but he shrugged and brought all four chair legs down to the ground, looking briefly annoyed at the nickname before he shrugged it off and tried to sit up a bit straighter around Logan. "You've been to Hala recently, right? Seen the damage my dad did there ... nearly destroyed the whole planet?"

"Yeah, we've popped in once or twice," Logan said with a nod. "But I don't see what that's got to do with anything."

"I'm working up to it, don't worry," Quill assured him with an easy smile. "Just figured you should get the background — seeing as it was fighting my dad that got me thinking on proposing." He took a deep breath as he watched Logan. "Tried to take him on by submitting to the Vortex — and before you say anything, I  _know_. Bad idea. Kitty told me it was a bad idea, and I should've listened, but ... yeah." He let out the rest of the breath and glanced K's way before he continued. "Few of my crew tried to handle it and couldn't. We were getting desperate, so I tried it on for size and… it worked. Only…" He paused. "Only it showed me what would happen with me and Kitty if I submitted, and I didn't like it. So I gave it up."

"Okay, that I get," Logan said, with his eyes narrowed a bit. "So?"

"So Kitty took it on instead," Quill said, frowning slightly at the memory despite the good buzz and the high of the wedding. "We won, but … I've never been so scared in my life. So I proposed right there. No sense in waiting."

"How long ago was that — because she didn't tell us about the engagement until a couple years ago, and I …" Logan paused for a moment then leaned forward, realizing what K was getting at. "When exactly was Hala trashed?"

"Seven-ish years ago," Quill said. "Was another little while after that when the Vortex happened, so it's just about seven years even at this point." He didn't seem too concerned about it.

"You've been engaged to her for that long?" All the anger in his face had switched over to pure disbelief.

"Yeah." Quill raised both eyebrows at Logan. "I thought she told you! I mean, it was only a little while later when you and Nightcrawler and Hawkeye came by my ship on your back from-the-dead tour. Figured that would have been in the catching-up. She didn't tell you?"

"She failed to mention she'd been engaged for all this time," Logan replied, looking more irritated again. "Who's idea was it to wait this long?"

Quill seemed to realize that Logan was looking for someone to be mad at, because he paused for a second. "Um."

"Don't lie now, sweetie," K said, resting her hand on Quill's arm.

"No, it's just..." Quill seemed to be trying to figure out how to word his answer. "We've been spending most of our time in space, on my turf. She wanted to get married on Earth. So I left it to her and figured she'd work things out."

"She's been here plenty to pull off a thing like this in no time," Logan countered. "What changed that got her in turbo mode all of a sudden?"

Quill looked steadily more nervous at that. "Oh. Well. She … we … thought we should get married..."

"Stop talking," K warned suddenly as she squeezed his wrist. "You were doing so well. Just … plead the fifth."

Quill looked gratefully K's way and nodded. "Ask Kitty," he told Logan. "Her decision."

K gave Logan a quick kiss and took Quill's arm and got to her feet. "Like lookin' in a mirror, ain't it, sweetheart?" she said before she took Quill  _away_ from Logan to get him a stiffer drink.

It took Logan a moment, but he quickly scanned the crowd and headed right for Kitty — where she was, thankfully, chatting with Kurt and Kate. "So. Long engagement, huh?" he asked.

"Few years," she said easily, still half distracted playing with Krissy in Kate's arms.

"A few translates to two or three, not  _seven_ ," Logan countered.

At that, Kitty actually looked up and gave him her full attention. "Yeah, well," she said. "I guess I let time get away from me, huh?"

"While pushing us like crazy," Logan said dryly. "So if it was such an easy, laid-back thing — what was with the sudden rush?"

Kitty glanced at Kurt for a second before she zipped over to kiss Logan's cheek. "You're right. I shouldn't have pushed you guys. That was mean. I just wanted you to be happy!" She grinned at him brilliantly. "But you know, I shouldn't have been so overprotective."

"Don't give me that crap," Logan replied. "I can't even threaten the guy right when I'm sympathetic to him.  _You,_ however..." He shook his head a little bit. "Stringin' him along. Didn't think you were the type."

It was only the fact that it was Kitty's wedding day that kept Kate from gleefully rubbing it in, but she was definitely still cackling and trying to cover for it by playing with Krissy.

"Now, I'm gonna go see how K is with her newly adopted space brat. Congratulations," Logan said before he turned around again and headed off.

Kate was still cackling as she shook her head at Logan's retreating back. "K collects them," she said finally. "Looks like Noh's got a brother now."

"Yes, well... I'm sure she didn't mean to adopt this one when she sat down with him," Kurt said.

Kate giggled again. "Scott must feel left out. Or do you think he counts as a space brat too — with his father?"

"Scott definitely counts as a space brat," Kurt replied. "Space pirate father. Yes. Qualifications all line up properly."

"Oh good. Then he fits in with his brothers just fine," Kate giggled delightedly before she bumped Kitty's shoulder with hers. "Good thing yours is already fitting in so well with the in-laws. Or does that make  _you_ an in-law?" she teased.

" _No_ ," Kitty replied, giving Kate a little bat in the arm. "I didn't think she'd interrogate him like that."

"You've met our intergalactic lawyer, right?" Kate said with a smirk. "She practically lives in interrogation mode."

"Yeah, I was there," she teased. "So does Logan. It's horrible sometimes."

Kurt seemed to take pity on her for a moment and pulled her into a one-armed hug, then released her only to make a sweeping bow and take her hand in his. "Well, enough of interrogations. Would you allow me to steal a dance?" he asked with a wide smile.

"Yes, please," Kitty replied, some of the smile returning. "I should have known better than to hide this. He'll get over it and be back to threatening Peter in no time."

Kurt nodded his agreement as he led her out to the dance floor. "That's true; he will get over it," he said. "Though I think K was serious about adopting him into the family."

She looked over in time to see Elin on Peter's lap and snuggling into a warm hug. "Yeah, looks like," Kitty replied.

"I'm glad," Kurt told her warmly. "If he's going to be married to my  _katzchen_ , he'd best be able to get along with our family."

* * *

Logan, however, had moved on to other matters when he saw Illyana and Strange actually enjoying taking a few minutes from their usual odd tasks. He walked up with a funny look on his face as he opened up the conversation. "You got a few minutes, doc?" Logan asked with a little frown.

"Of course, Wolverine," Strange said as he gestured for Logan to lead the way with whatever it was that needed doing.

Logan nodded, and they made their way over to snag Kurt and Kate as well — since this business involved them. Kurt took one look at the expression on Logan's face and didn't even need to ask what was going on to teleport them to one of the classrooms in the mansion that wasn't being used so they could have a little privacy.

Strange looked around the room for a moment before he raised an eyebrow. "What can I do for you, then?" he asked, settling into a more businesslike tone.

"Not really for me," Logan said as he let out a breath and looked between Kurt and Kate. "I don't  _do_ this, but special circumstances," he half apologized. "Azazel had an enchantment that pulled him to Kate when she got pregnant. I wanna know if you can make something happen to trap him this time." He looked at the couple squarely. "Because we're running out of time."

"Wait. Really?" Kate was beaming broadly, and Kurt looked like you could have knocked him over with a feather.

"I didn't want to wreck it, but yeah. Really. Considerin' the alternate future you saw, I wanted to get ahead of this one," Logan replied.

If he had been expecting them to be disappointed that the surprise was ruined, he was mistaken. Kurt simply teleported right to Logan to wrap him in a hug — and Kate wasn't far behind, half tackling them both as she let out a squeal of pure delight.

"We haven't even — I wasn't gonna take a test until — this is  _amazing!_ " Kate said, too excited to finish a complete thought as she wrapped both men up tight.

"I was going to tell you soon. Give you a little chance to figure it out on your own," Logan told her, "but since Strange was here …"

"Don't apologize," Kurt said with a grin. "This is a much better way of getting the news than the last time."

Strange watched the hug fest for a while with a muted smile, waiting for Kate and Kurt to detach before he offered any thoughts — though of course, that meant he had the time to compose his thoughts in the first place. "We've already put a spell in place that will freeze the demon if he harms you," he said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but what about catchin' him?" Logan asked.

"Perhaps we can build on what we already have," Strange said, now pacing a small circle around both Kate and Kurt. "I know the limitation that he has to mean you harm wasn't enough when he placed a spell on Hawkeye and the little one. We'll have to be more specific." He stopped in his pacing to tug on his cape for just a moment. "Let's extend it to any physical contact," he suggested. "If he touches you — or if you touch him — he will freeze in place. I can give you an hour at least to work with, and we can figure out a way to restrain and detain him from there."

"Great," Kate said with a nod. "Because I gotta tell you: if he's going to be dropping by in a few weeks? I want to hit him. If that is part of the spell, all the better."

"Does it have to be Kate that comes into contact with him?" Kurt asked.

"She's the one at the center of the spell," Strange explained. "She and any of your descendents. I can also set the spell so that if he touches any of the children, the same thing will happen. That way, the spell will continue in perpetuity long after you both have left this mortal plane."

Kate and Kurt glanced at each other before they shared a little nod. "Alright," Kurt said softly. "What do you need?"

"The same thing as before. I need you, and I need Kristina as well this time to be sure to get all four of you. She should be covered by the spell, but it's best to be certain in matters like this," Strange explained before he quickly added, "And perhaps we should wait until she is asleep."

"Perhaps we should," Kurt agreed, remembering how little Katie had reacted to Strange's magic years ago.

Kate was nodding beside Kurt as she thought it over before she asked, "So that will freeze him in place for us — but after that, then what? I mean, it's not like we can just keep sending him back to that stupid island. He keeps getting off it, and that horrible future didn't exactly fill me with confidence that he'll stay there even if we send him back."

"Yes, we need something more permanent," Kurt agreed, though he didn't have any ideas to offer for the time being, and the three of them fell into a bit of silence as they thought it over, occasionally offering ideas that didn't quite seem to cut it.

Logan finally cut in and met Kurt's gaze. "I'll be right back," he said, heading toward the door without any further explanation.

He made his way through the celebrating heroes and family to find his wife. "You think you can talk Stark into anything still?" he asked quietly over K's shoulder.

K turned his way with a little smirk. "Pretty sure I can, if you can stomach the teasing that has to happen to get there," she replied. "What do you have in mind?"

He gave her a little smile and took James out of her arms to hand over to Scott. "I need a minute," he told Scott before he pulled K into a quiet room and explained what he had in mind. She started to smile slowly and nodded along with his plan before she made the phone call that started out with 'Happy New Year, handsome,' and with a smirk, Logan headed back into the crowd to find Kitty and inform her of a job she had to do before she disappeared into space again.

When he got back to where Strange was with the little Wagner family, Krissy had joined them, and it looked like they were waiting for her to drift off to sleep before they let Strange do his thing — so that the magic didn't scare her.

Logan gave Kurt a little look that read all kinds of premeditated trouble before Kurt had to ask: "What are you up to now?"

"Tell you later; do this first," Logan told him. "I think I've got it covered, though." He looked around the room for a second and nodded to himself. "Yeah. Pretty sure I got it."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him with a bit of a smirk. "I'm sure you do," he said before he returned his attention to Kate and Krissy. The little elfling was finally falling into a deeper sleep, the very tip of her tail twitching as she started to dream.

Still, Strange waited a bit longer, having learned his lesson from the last time he scared one of the little ones at the mansion, before he even thought about starting his spell — and even then, he warned Kurt, "This is through your bloodline, so it may sting a bit," before he put his hands on both Kate and Kurt and the light show and wind that was the spell started up in earnest.

Krissy didn't wake up the entire time, though she did fuss a little bit in her sleep. While Kurt was all but holding his breath, Kate's hand steady in the small of his back until Strange was done — and all three seemed to let out a breath of relief at once.

Just then, there was a gentle knock at the door, and K softly opened it — with Tony Stark in her wake. "He's game," she said, pulling him in by the hand. "But he wants to hear it — exactly as you were thinking."

Kate glanced quickly toward Logan. "What all does he know?" she asked in a low whisper.

"That I wanted a favor, and I've got an idea," Logan told her. "He doesn't know what it's for. Not really."

Kate thought it over for a second and then nodded. "Good, because I got in  _so much trouble_ with Jubes and Noh last time."

"You can tell them whatever you want. This is to deal with the jackass once he's frozen temporarily," Logan said before he took a breath and turned toward Tony and smirked crookedly, already sure of himself and only looking for confirmation. "Would it work if we attached one of your generators to a stasis field? Could you even pull it off? I know that Noh has one or two of 'em tucked away. Pretty sure I can talk him into parting with one for this."

"Can I do it," Tony half scoffed. "Of course it would work. I just have to see the stasis field and see what kind of power source I'm dealing with so I know how much work needs doing."

"How fast can you do it?" Logan asked.

"Depends on how compatible the technologies are," Tony said honestly. "I could do it in a day or two if they're not too far removed from each other. If it's a rush job, probably sooner than that if you don't mind having to lug around something clunky."

Logan nodded. "It's a rush job, but I think it needs to be portable. I'm not sure how big the space is that it's gotta fit into."

"Okay ... how's this." Tony already had the gleam of a new project in his expression. "I'll get you the first prototype, clunky or not, so you've got your bases covered, and then I'll work on getting it slim and trim for you."

"Perfect," Logan agreed before he looked to his wife. "Take him to Noh. Make it happen. I'll handle Kitty."

"Can I ask?" Tony said quickly. "Before I go ... your surrogate daughter just got married, so you're not thinking of putting her new husband in perpetual stasis for the rest of eternity, right?"

"No," Logan said with a smirk. "Or ... I wasn't until now."

"So it's for someone else," Tony surmised with a smirk.

"Azazel," Logan admitted. "Can't kill him, can't seem to keep him where he belongs ... so..."

"So eternally-powered stasis field. Perfect solution." Tony clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

"Of course, there will need to be some alarms or notification in case something goes wrong," K said. "Where you have planned for him ... he'd die if he was stuck long enough out of stasis."

"I could rig that up too — or work with your resident security expert," Tony offered. "His tech married to mine anyway; probably going to want his eyes on this stuff." He looked thrilled at the prospect.

"I'll talk him into it," K said, taking Tony's arm again, though there was very little pulling needed to get him to follow her.

Kurt and Kate watched the two of them leave before Kurt turned to Logan with a raised eyebrow. "You already have a place picked out?"

"Kitty stuffed Emma in a hole about five miles under the school. She said it was real cozy — no way to get to it or to get out without phasing. He's gonna have trouble weaseling out of there."

"Sounds good — as long as we get those alarms set up so we know if he dies," Kate said. "I do  _not_ want to accidentally speed up that timeline," she added with a bit of a shudder.

"The alarms should go off well before he dies," Logan said. "We'll have him set it so they ping if the stasis is interrupted. That'll give us a few days to get down there."

"I just need a few seconds to punch him and freeze him so we can fix the stasis," Kate muttered. "I like the new spell."

"Exactly," Logan replied with a little smirk. "Plenty of time."

At that, Kurt smiled and went over to wrap his best friend in another warm hug. "Thank you for looking after us,  _mein Freund_ ," he said.

"If it keeps your dad from causing trouble, it's lookin' out for everyone, right?" Logan replied. "Little bit of a selfish stake in it, honestly." He turned toward Strange, still with that troublemaking gleam in his eyes. "Thanks, Doc."

"And especially looking out for your goddaughter," Kate added. "In addition to the selfish concerns. Which I totally get."

Kurt wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a warm squeeze before he kissed the top of her head and turned back to Logan and Strange. "Well, I think we've been absent from the party long enough. We shouldn't miss sending the happy couple off."

The night was nearly over, and Kitty had started to look for Logan by then. As soon as he was free from his little side project, she all but seized him. "You have to dance with me," she informed him, and he had to chuckle as she pulled him out for their dance, grinning broadly and obviously enjoying every second.

"Good, because I need to talk to you," Logan replied. "After the dance, don't you dare go running off into space. I need your help with somethin' big."

"I was planning on sticking around," she promised him as she twirled with him. "Been in space for a while now — thought we'd honeymoon somewhere more earthly," she teased.

"Make sure you have a comm on," he replied with a smirk.

"I will," she promised with a nod. "Just send Kurt to come get me after I'm decent," she teased. "Since it's something big."

"I'll try to remember that part," he said with a little chuckle. "Of course, I won't have much time when it comes up — so be ready to move."

She gave him a look for a second. "Is this because of the long engagement?"

"No, not a thing to do with you and Peterquill," he replied. "Just need your skills — and no one else can do this."

She nodded at that and let out a playful sigh. "It's a burden to be so needed."

He chuckled a bit more and pulled her into a tight spin. "I wouldn't know."

It wasn't a long song, and when it was over, he beat her to the punch with a little kiss pressed to her forehead before she could get him first — and when he handed her over to Peter, it was with a look that neither of them could misunderstand.

But Peter didn't seem to care about that at all as he swept Kitty out onto the dance floor. K had been plying him with the good stuff all night so that she could get the good stories, but even before that had started up, he had been walking on air. So by the time they got to the dance, he was definitely earning his title of Star Lord — because that's where his head was.

When they'd had their dance together, the littlest kids led out the bubble blowing with unbridled enthusiasm as they all but chased the newlyweds with their bubbles through their whole exit. Peter, of course, loved their enthusiasm and made it a point to try to pop as many bubbles as he could on their way out, to the kids' delight — before the newlyweds headed off in happily married bliss.


	13. "I'm Fine" is Russian For "OW"

It had been about a week since Kitty and Peter's wedding, and while that meant that the guests that had flooded the mansion were all back home, it also meant the students were returning to the school from their holiday break, and Natasha was still feeling miserable and missing the peace and quiet of Clint's place — which she had never considered to be quiet before.

She knew, somewhere in the part of her mind that was logical still, that she had  _wanted_ this, wanted a family — but that part of her mind was hard to hold on to when she was crying and having a hard time keeping a grip on anything approaching emotional control. She was, quite simply, miserable and in pain.

K and Kate came up to bring her a bite to eat and fill her in on all the incoming stupid as a means of trying to get her to relax. "I've got the Annie Summers spread for you today," K told her as they stepped into the room. "She got a little overly enthusiastic with the incoming kids."

"You'd think she was excited or something," Kate agreed with a smile, though Natasha just glared at both of them for a moment and pulled the covers up a bit more.

"Yeah, that look doesn't work on me," K told her, yanking the covers down a bit. "Try another one."

But Natasha kept up her glare, because anything else was threatening to turn into tears, and she didn't want to have to put up with that.

K watched her for a few moments and wrinkled her brow, clearly assessing the situation much more carefully. "You should go see Hank," she said finally.

Natasha's glare deepened as she said through her teeth, "I'm fine."

"You're lying, you're hurting, and you're not fine. Believe me; I'm the last person to send anyone to the doctor — but you need one. And some heavy painkillers if that kind of thing works for you," she replied in a no-nonsense tone. "You're going to see Hank. The only question here is if you're going to do it on your own or if those little fuzzy blue bastards are going to do it for you."

"You wouldn't," Natasha said.

K smiled at her widely as she offered her hand. "You know damn well that I would."

"I hate you," Natasha half muttered, though she was pulling down the covers.

"That has been the case for years. I'm okay with that."

Kate watched the whole interaction before she ran over to help Natasha out of the bed with wide eyes. "Can you even make it?" she asked before Natasha gave her the deepest glare yet.

"She's Russian; she can make it," K teased. "Might take the whole house down with her, but she can do it. The question is: does she  _want_ to?"

"Watch me," Natasha said as she straightened up a bit and headed to the door.

"For the record, I didn't say you couldn't. I know you can, but ... you don't  _have to prove anything._ "

"Why don't you just find my husband and get him down. He  _will_ need help," Natasha replied.

"Kate, you know where he is. I'll keep Natasha company," K promised.

"Got it," Kate said, all but bounding out of the room to go find Clint, while Natasha gave K a very dry look as she got to the hallway.

"If it helps with your pain management, feel free to stab me," K told her.

"Don't do that," Natasha said. "I know what you're doing. I can handle it."

"I know you can, but I also know where you're at right now. And ... it's tempting. Better me than Clint." K gave her a significant look but didn't offer physical assistance unless Natasha looked like she was on her way down.

Natasha, to her credit, was doing fine, even though she had to pause a few times and just … clench her fists. But she didn't ask for any help all the way down to the lab — where Hank looked slightly alarmed when he saw the state she was in.

"I'll guard the door," K promised Natasha as the redhead finally sat down on a gurney. "No one but Clint?"

"Logan too," Natasha said as Hank let her sit.

"You got it," she agreed before she took a guard position just outside of the doors, arms crossed.

It wasn't much later that Kate arrived with Clint — who, as predicted, was the one who needed the support, all but leaning on Kate with wide eyes. "This isn't another false alarm?" he asked almost breathlessly. "It's for real this time?"

"No," Hank replied, "this is no false start. She's ready any time, actually. Apparently, she was trying to ignore it."

Clint shook his head. "Tasha…" he muttered under his breath before he got a second wind and pushed past Hank to go stand by Natasha — all but falling over to sit next to her once he arrived, though. "Nat, what's the deal? Didn't want to call me? I stopped passing out at the sight of blood about a week ago. I'm getting better," he teased gently.

She gave him a look. "Shut up, Clint," she said, grabbing his hand and refusing to let go once she had it.

There was a little scuffle outside in the hall as Logan and Peter Parker arrived. Logan had given K a quick kiss before stepping in, but when Peter tried to follow, all Natasha could see for a second was feet straight up in the air as K put him on the ground. Peter complained loudly — though it was muffled through the door, and all that was discernible outside of his squeaking about wanting to see his Mama Spider was a low growl before Peter simply left.

"Guess it's just you and me and Wolverine," Clint said mildly, though he couldn't hide the smirk at the situation as Logan joined them. Natasha didn't do anything except to smirk just the slightest before she grabbed Logan by the hand as well, too focused to do anything else.

Clint didn't say it, but he was pretty grateful to have Logan around for Natasha to hold on to, because he had marks on his fingers from Natasha — and Logan could take it better than he could. Logan didn't even flinch when her nails broke the skin, instead kissing the top of her head and whispering encouragement in Russian to her.

K kept up her guarding routine over the next several hours — with Kate and Kurt taking a turn when she needed to pause and feed James. But no one else tried to get in after Peter had told them what happened.

It was late at night when Zoe finally made her debut, and she came out screaming her displeasure at Hank as soon as the fuzzy doctor cut the cord. She screamed and glared right up until Hank set her in Natasha's arms, and then she settled out enough that she was no longer crying — though she did cut a glare at anyone who wasn't Mom that looked like they might try to say hello.

"She looks like you, Nat," Clint teased when he saw the little glare.

"You did good, darlin'," Logan said before he gave her another kiss — this time on the cheek. "I'll leave you three to get to know each other."

"Hey." She glanced up at him and looked very tired but was grinning now. "Thanks."

"Any time," he replied, giving her a little smile before he slipped out of the doors to stay with K — still keeping anyone from bothering them.

Natasha leaned against Clint with a smile, but Zoe was still glaring at this person who was not her mom. Clint didn't seem bothered by this at all, though, and he pulled both of his girls closer. "Hey, Zoe. Already practicing the intimidating glare, huh?" he teased as he reached over to play with the little wispy red curls on top of her head. She watched his every movement with wide eyes, but the glare was softening a bit as he spoke.

"Keep talking," Natasha said as she watched her little girl.

Clint smiled a bit wider at that. "You're gonna be amazing, Zo," he told her as the smile just kept growing. "Look at you. You're already perfect. And it's just gonna get better."

Zoe's glare kept softening the more Clint talked, and slowly, Natasha leaned against him and relaxed as Zoe finally let her dad see her wide eyes instead of a glare — before she drifted off to sleep soon after.

It wasn't too long before Natasha, speaking in a normal tone, said, "K, you can let Kate and Kurt in now," knowing that the little ferals would hear her speaking.

When Kate and Kurt peered into the lab, they were both grinning wide — but it was absolutely nothing compared to the look on Clint's face as he ran over to meet them before they were fully in the door and wrapped Kate up in a spinning hug.

"Katie, she's perfect. Come see!" he breathed out as he finally set her back down.

Kate grinned when she saw how much her mentor was on Cloud Nine. "Of course she's perfect," she said as if it was obvious before Clint wrapped Kurt up in a hug as well and led them over to see the sleeping little redhead.

"Oh, look at those curls," Kurt said with a smile as Natasha gently tipped Zoe into Kate's arms.

"Just wait til you see the suspicious glare," Clint said, chuckling. "Just like her mom."

"I dunno," Kate said thoughtfully. "That nose is yours. I've seen the pics Barney shows the kids when we come to visit. Cute little button nose… freckles… she's a Barton."

"Yep. Zoe Elizabeth Barton," Clint said with a smirk. "I wanted to make her a Romanoff, but Nat said she  _wanted_ my name…" He looked like he still couldn't believe it, though Natasha was smirking as well. "But hey... Got a nice ring to it, right?"

Kate stared at him wide-eyed. "You didn't…"

"Thought about Zoe Katherine, but it doesn't have the same ring," Clint said, clearly enjoying the look on her face. "Plus, we didn't want to overdo it. Pulling out your first name  _and_ making you godmother. Just a bit much, right?"

Kate was completely gobsmacked. "...Right."

Kurt chuckled as he gently took Zoe from Kate so she could sit next to her fellow Hawkeye and process that revelation. "She's perfect," he told Natasha. "She'll be lovelier every day, too."

"Of course she will be," Natasha said matter-of-factly as she leaned back into the pillows.

Zoe was just snuggling into Kurt in her sleep, looking much more like Clint when she was totally relaxed like that than she had before — when Kate let out a cry of dismay as a very familiar smoking vortex filled the middle of the lab floor.

"Your dad. Has. Horrible. Timing," Kate said through her teeth.

Both Logan and K rushed in, ready for a fight, when Azazel simply hit both of them with a bolt of energy that froze them to the spot before he turned toward Kurt and Kate. "Practicing already?" he asked with a delighted grin when he saw Kurt holding Zoe. He shook his head a bit at the pink blanket as he sighed. "Though of course, it would be better if you could give me a grandson this time. An heir is an heir, but the family name, my boy…!"

Clint looked like he was going to pound the guy for that one, but he had his hands full a second later as Natasha tried to get out of the hospital bed to do it herself, swearing at him in low Russian. But after over twelve hours of labor, she wasn't up to fighting a demon, and Clint took a punch to his chest when she got mad at him for stopping her.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting … these two," Azazel said as he inched his way closer. "More ill tempered animals or simply fellow  _heroes_?"

"Family," Clint corrected him without a breath of restraint. "Take another step toward my Katie and I'll show you how friendly we are."

"Somehow I doubt that," he replied, though he did take a moment to look Clint over more closely on hearing that they were family. "You were in the group that tried to fight me on my island."

"Tried to? Seems to me you lost pretty handily," Clint said as he moved to stand between Azazel and his new little girl.

"You were not one to land the final blow — not with those silly sticks and strings."

"Yeah, Kurt did all the swashbuckling," Clint said with an easy shrug, one hand on the edge of Natasha's bed, just waiting for Azazel to make a move toward his girls.

"There were a lot more of you then, and the little guard dogs are out of this particular game too. I'm not concerned," Azazel replied as he made another step toward Kate, who, to Clint's surprise, was being still and quiet. She caught Clint's eye and nodded just the slightest bit — the signal to relax, though Clint didn't know why she would be asking him to stand down when a demon was in the room with his  _baby girl_.

Azazel shook his head as he smirked at Kurt. "Are you waiting for all of your friends to make playmates and pets for my grandchildren before you get started? Would it be easier for me to just find ways to force them into it first?"

" _Hey_." Kate broke her silence and stepped slightly forward herself, pointing her finger at him with a glare that just had him grinning wider at her. "They're not part of this. They're — you leave 'em alone."

"I just want to make it as easy on you as I can," Azazel said through an almost gleeful chuckle.

"Liar," she almost snarled his way before she took two steps forward and socked him in the jaw. It was obvious he didn't think she was a threat — he was outright laughing at her — but he didn't know just how dangerous one punch could be. It froze him in place mid-smug chuckle.

As soon as Kate made contact, the hold Azazel had on the ferals broke and K pulled out her phone and called Tony up. "Get here now," she said before simply hanging up, and the two of them started putting things into motion.

"Kurt, maybe get Nat and Zoe outta here," Logan said. "I doubt Nat wants Stark to be here right now while she's a little too tired to tease him."

"Yes. Let me at least get some sleep so I can destroy him," Natasha said.

Kurt didn't need any further prompting before he teleported away with Natasha and Zoe, though he reappeared only moments later after dropping them off in Natasha's guest room to pull Kate, who was still nearly shaking with rage, into his arms.

Clint was watching the whole thing with wide eyes. "Didn't know you packed a punch like that, Katie Kate," he joked lightly. "What happened?"

"Strange put a spell on me and the kids," Kate explained, glaring at the frozen demon in front of her. "We've got about an hour for Tony and Kitty and Noh to get here and get him locked up tight so he can't bother us anymore."

K and Logan made their way over to Azazel and decided to take a chance at moving him to where he'd be stuck if Tony and Noh didn't get there fast enough. So, the two of them hauled him off to the Danger Room to lock him in.

But the nice part about having Tony working with a guy with superspeed was that they didn't have to wait too long. It was about fifteen minutes later that the two tech geniuses arrived with the arc-stasis module, about the size and shape of an air canister, which Tony was carrying while Noh had him slung over one shoulder — which Tony didn't exactly look happy about, even if it was the fastest way to get there.

"Have a nice ride?" K asked conversationally as the two of them set up.

"You know, I didn't get to stow my tray table properly. I think the air stewardess needs to work on his air etiquette."

"They prefer 'flight attendant,' you neanderthal," K laughed.

"If you say so. You moonlighting for that job too?" he asked as he got the reactor properly hooked up.

"Not this week," she shot back. "But maybe next …"

"Do you two do this for every occasion, or only when I'm around to suffer through it?" Noh asked, rolling his eyes.

"Pretty much every occasion," Kurt told him. "They can't seem to help themselves."

Noh let out a sigh of longsuffering before he looked to Tony and nodded as he stepped back from the stasis generator. "Ready when you are," he said, and Tony broke into a huge grin as he fired it up. A moment later, they could feel the slight hum of the field around Azazel if they got too close.

"You should be able to move him in this state without breaking the field," Noh said. "But we'll triple-check everything once he's in place."

"I already sent Kitty a warning," Logan said. "So it's all you, Elf. Worst case scenario, Kate'll have to give him another love tap before Kitty turns it on."

"She wouldn't mind that at all. I think she rather enjoyed it," Kurt said with a smirk before he disappeared in a poof of smoke to go get Kitty.

When he returned some time later, it was with a fairly suntanned Kitty in shorts and a tank top who looked over the group quickly before she cracked her knuckles and nodded. "You were right, Logan. Big project."

Tony waved 'hi' very quickly and started to tell her the plan. "I don't  _think_ it would be a problem for you to move the equipment, but … I have a spare back at my place if it fritzes out."

"Got it," she said with a nod before she shook out her hands and grinned at the group. "Alright, if that's all, I have a honeymoon to get back to, so let's just get moving," she announced before she took hold of the trapped demon and sank right through the floor.

The entire time Kitty was gone, Noh and Tony both were watching their readouts carefully, Tony half bouncing in place with nervous energy at the launch of a new invention, while Noh looked ready to fight if things went wrong. Logan was just waiting, his arms around K's waist and his chin on her shoulder, hoping that his crazy little cobbed-up plan would actually  _work._ All of them more or less silent as they waited for Kitty's return.

So when Kitty came back up grinning, it was a relief to the group at large as she dusted off her hands. "Well, he's not going anywhere," she declared.

"Monitors working alright?" Logan asked, looking between Noh and Tony.

"Like a dream," Tony said, sounding proud. "This guy twitches and you'll know about it two milliseconds later."

"So … it looks like it might work."

"Might? Wolverine, it  _worked_ ," Tony said with a grin. "I call this little field test a resounding success."

"Then I guess all we have left is to get you home," K said with a nod. "Come on; it'll take a little longer than the sparkle pants express, but I'll give you a lift."

"Yes, that sounds much better than the sparkle pants express," Tony agreed with a smirk.

"You can keep an eye on James and Elin, right?" K asked toward Kurt and Kate. "He should be good for a couple hours anyhow."

"Oh, absolutely," Kate assured her. "Krissy loves sleepovers with your family anyway."

"Perfect," K said, taking Tony in one arm and Logan in the other. "I think we need a drink, boys."


	14. Bishop Publishing And Wagner Investigations

The first week of the winter semester classes had been busy for everyone, though Kurt had been surprised when Kate didn't come right down to the drama room after his class was out like she usually did on Fridays.

He checked the archery ranges and a few other places before he found her in her office, with two laptops running, as well as her desktop — and papers scattered everywhere. She had her pen in her mouth and an expression that he knew meant she was deep in thought, so he made sure when he closed the door that it made enough noise to alert her to his presence.

She looked up when she heard it and then grinned around the pen when she saw him. "Is it that late already?"

"Yes, time flies when you're busy," he teased her gently before he teleported behind her to gently rest his chin on her shoulder to look over her various projects. "What have you been up to,  _liebchen_?"

She turned her head so she could kiss his cheek before she gestured to the mess she'd made of her desk. "Oh, you know. Everything," she said, which got Kurt chuckling. She grinned and pointed her pen at one of the laptops. "I've been emailing Kamala. You know her next movie's out in a few months, and she wanted some advice on a red carpet dress. Which reminds me — I should get one too." She grinned at him impishly. "Won't be showing too much then, but we'll see."

"You'll look lovely no matter what," he promised her as he gently kissed her behind her ear.

She giggled her agreement before she gestured to the rest of the mess on her desk. "Trying to organize a buyout, too," she explained. "That movie production company that's been doing Kamala's stuff? I like their work. And I figure it's time to expand to more than just the printed word. The book on the real life story of the MRD guy ... that could probably be a summer thriller if we did it right…" She gestured over the scattered legal documents with a sigh. "It's not a bad deal; it's just a  _lot_ of paperwork."

"I can see that," he said without looking as he continued to kiss her.

She giggled again before she gestured to a pile of envelopes nearby. "And those — those are the checks from the pre-orders of JJ's book," she said, and this time, he stopped kissing her long enough to look her way in surprise. "Yeah, people are already interested," she said in answer to his unasked question. "I'm talking six figures."

He raised an eyebrow and let out a low whistle. "Already?"

She nodded. "Have you read it yet?" she asked. "I hate to say it, but I think… JJ might have been the perfect guy to write the story. He's got no love for our friends, but that actually kind of works in their favor. He's not pushing the victim angle or the dangerous ferals angle — just straight up facts. Let the reader draw their own conclusions. It's  _miles_ better than the dramaticized versions that have been cropping up everywhere. It's  _good_."

"You sound surprised," he said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well." She let out her breath in a huff before she pointed at the envelopes again. "Anyway, I wrote it in the contract that anyone who was involved in the team gets part of the royalties — and those two as well. I didn't tell  _them_ , though." She took a deep breath. "So… they probably won't take it, but it's theirs. If they don't want it, I'm putting it into the school. This thing doesn't pay for itself with all the repairs we're always doing," she added in a lightly teasing tone.

He shook his head at her for a moment when she'd finished explaining. "You have been busy," he said at last.

"Well, you're not going to let me out in the field, so…"

"That's true," he had to admit, with a bit of a smirk.

"So red carpet parties, business deals — that stuff I  _can_ do. And if it helps pay for the school, and my arrows, and everything else, that's even better," she said.

"You don't need to worry about—"

"Kurt." She turned to face him with one eyebrow raised. "Kurt, do you know what my dad was worth  _before_ I took over? Do you know why JJ came after me? Why Fisk wanted it so bad? You married a futzing billionaire, Kurt. So let me help."

He blinked at her in honest surprise, entirely taken off guard.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't tell you," she said, waving his surprise off for the moment. "It was sort of… well, first rule of my house was you didn't talk finances, so ... I guess I never thought it would come up. But I'm looking at JJ's book… and this money… it should really go somewhere useful. Like the school. And to Clint and Nat for their little girl. Scott and Annie's kids… Wade and Eleanor… Logan and K and their kids… That's way better than letting it sit in my bank account."

He couldn't help but smile at her warmly hearing where her heart was set. "Those are good causes," he teased lightly.

"You bet." She gestured to her wreck of a desk. "Anyway… guess I got caught up in all the work. Didn't realize your class was out."

"I can see that," he agreed, looking over the mess before he saw the files open on the desktop and raised an eyebrow; he recognized them as surveillance footage. "And what's this?" he asked gently.

She followed his gaze and fell into another smirk. "Well, you're not gonna let me go in the field, but I can still run some investigations like nobody's business," she pointed out. "And with your dad hanging out below ground, I figured it would be a good idea to look into your mom's whereabouts. Since she's the one that was going after Krissy in that other timeline." She let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair. "Which, by the way, is the hardest investigation I've ever run. I can't find much of  _anything_. But… it's something I can work on while I'm not allowed on the dangerous missions." She gestured at her cluttered desk. "Get used to this look, sweetheart, because Bishop Publishing and Wagner Investigations are going to get a lot more attention while I'm grounded."

* * *

The several weeks leading up to the book release were fairly stressful for not only Kate but just about everyone in her wake — and all kinds of trouble for the ferals, who still weren't entirely comfortable with their story being out there, even if it was all public record now. Scott was trying to field calls and doing everything else to keep the spotlight off of the two of them, even though both of them called him out on it. Multiple times. And they were sure to tell him that they didn't need him to do that for them.

And as stressed as Kate was, she was right there with Scott trying to run interference, but for an entirely different reason.

"It's my  _job_ to handle all this crap. I'm your publisher," Kate argued.

"So handle it for the good press you're getting with JJ," Logan told her. "I don't need it."

"I don't think you understand — it's literally my job to get you two good press too," she pointed out.

"I thought it was your job to make sure that the author and your company got good press," he argued. "Subject matter doesn't count in that."

"Most of the time, yeah," Kate admitted. "But not with  _people_. When we do biopics, unless it's about scumbags or something, that's part of the job too."

"The problem is that they already pretty much believe it is about scumbags, darlin'."

"What? Bishop Publishing, the most mutant-biased company in the world of publishing, writing anything  _negative_ about mutants?" she teased.

"Mutant doesn't mean they're nice. It's fine. I know what I am." He stretched out a bit in his chair, hands behind his neck, and looked back at her as if this was indeed common knowledge.

"Yes. You know you're a hug magnet," she said with a troublemaking grin. "Doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks."

"You have a slanted view of the world, kiddo," he told her.

"Me?" She placed a hand over her heart. "If by 'slanted' you mean right, then yes. Yes, I do."

"What do they want anyhow, Miss Delusional?" Logan asked. "Specifically."

"Oh, the usual. Do you want to do pre-release interviews. Would you comment on their emotional state. The tabloids want to know the real personal stuff too, since the two main subjects are married and all, but I won't tell you where I told them to stick  _those_ questions. I think you know enough about anatomy to figure it out yourself."

"What the hell are they expecting?" he asked, his nose scrunched up a little.

"They're not. They don't expect you to give them anything, and they don't expect any interviews. But they want to ask, just in case, because once-in-a-lifetime stories don't happen unless you ask," she said with a shrug. "So let me field 'em, because it's all just smoke anyway."

"You need to rest," he argued. "I can hang up the phone just fine on my own, and I don't think Scott's gonna let anyone close enough to get to the door."

"Logan, this company and my detective work are the only things I  _can_ do right now," Kate said with her arms crossed. "I'll go nuts if you do everything for me."

"Fine. Go do whatever it is that makes you happy," he said finally. "Just don't be surprised if K decides to help you if she thinks you're pushing it."

"She  _is_ my secretary," she teased, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Don't worry. Kurt's already given me the 'don't strain yourself' speech."

"I'm sure," he said before he cracked a little smile. "Twenty bucks says they wouldn't know it was her they had on the phone if she answered it."

"Fifty bucks says she has them convinced they're getting through to a deal with Mrs. Bishop-Wagner by halfway through the conversation."

He laughed. "Yeah, I'm not takin' that bet."

She giggled and leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek. "You let me know if anybody bothers you about this book launch, okay? Even on the team. I'll hit 'em for you — and you know they won't hit me back."

"Nah," he said with a shake of his head. "Anyone bothers me, I'll hit 'em myself. Probably boost your sales."

"I don't want to make money off of you," she promised.

"You'd be the first then," he countered.

"I  _am_ pretty special," she said. She took a deep breath. "Hey. When you get a sec, you and K should stop by my office."

"Sounds serious," he said with a little smirk. "You're not firing my wife, are you? She'll just start picking on everyone else worse if you do. Might take Tony up on his offer just to harass him more regularly."

"Quite the opposite," Kate said with a smirk of her own. "Actually, I had a little something I wanted to show you for the school. I'm taking some of the royalties and setting them aside."

"Sounds like something better suited for a talk with Scott and Storm," he said. "I'm not really part of that."

"I know, but I just wanted to show you the good that's coming out of the book," she said. "Please?"

"Fine. When do you want us?" Logan said after a little stretch of silence.

"Anytime that works for you," she said.

"Gimmie an hour? Was gonna go shoot pool with Kurt a little later."

"Sure thing," Kate said. "I'm just gonna be upstairs fielding calls and reading Kamala's newest work of genius. I love that kid."

"She's a good kid, but she needs work still," he replied. "Another one relying too much on her abilities."

"We should have her over more often, then. Sounds like she needs the Wolverine Crash Course."

"Tried to invite her; she wasn't interested," Logan said.

Kate laughed outright. "You kidding me?" she asked. "She thinks you hung the moon! Ask her if she wants lessons with you, and I guarantee she'll make the time."

"I thought I already did," he replied.

"You asked her if she wanted to use the Danger Room."

"Whatever, same thing," he said with a wave. "You're fieldin' crap — you deal with it."

"Great. You're open on Tuesday evenings, right?"

"I think so," he said with a frown. "Thought Scott was gonna ramp up the team practices though."

"Yeah, but she gets out of classes before Tyler and Tammy do. You can fit in some training before they get home, right? Not a problem for the Amazing Wolverine?" It was clear she's already made up her mind.

"Don't do that," Logan growled. "Don't … just no."

"See you in an hour, Logan," she said, still grinning.

The two of them parted company, and Kate got to work as Logan went to find K. When he did, she'd just put James to sleep, and Elin was already playing quietly with Chance and Charlie. Annie was set to come in and read to the little ones to try and get them to take a nap too, so it wasn't a big deal to leave the quiet little ones to see whatever it was Kate had cooked up.

Neither of them were surprised when they came in to find that Kate had made a mess of her desk as usual and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Want us to come back some other time?" K asked.

Kate looked up and grinned at them both and quickly shook her head as she removed the pen from her mouth. "No, no, come in," she said, waving them over as she grabbed a stack of envelopes from the top of her desk. She shifted her weight from one side to the other as she rubbed her thumbs over the envelopes in her hand. "So ... we've been getting preorders for the book."

"Congratulations," Logan said flatly.

"And I wrote it into the contract that everyone involved — Clint and Scott and Wade and everybody — got some of the royalties," she continued. "So… you're on that list too. Both of you."

"Why?" K asked.

Kate took a deep breath. "Because I don't feel good about making money off of you. Because it's  _your_ story. And because you should get something good out of all this. Have a nest egg for your family." She held out the envelopes. "If you don't want it, put it in the school. But at least look at it first."

They both stared at her for a moment before she physically pushed the envelopes into their hands. "I don't know that I want to even know," K said.

"You're entitled to that money," Kate said.

The two of them shared a look and opened it up, just to pause at the number on the checks. "That's … a lot of people."

"It includes international preorders," Kate said quickly. "I… I can get you the breakdown if you want. A few colleges ordered a bunch for poli-sci and psychology classes too. Had a few calls from professors for studies of government overreach and trauma and that sort of thing. Really interesting stuff."

"That's …  _awful_ ," K said quietly. "Why would anyone want to read this stuff?"

"Why would anyone want to read some of the really gaudy stuff English classes make you suffer through?" Kate replied, waving her hand. "Everyone has different tastes."

"Yeah, but making kids read about this crap for credit?" Logan said with a frown.

"You've read it. It pains me, but JJ did a good job. It's surprisingly… about as doable as possible."

"Yeah, he worked with what he had," Logan nodded.

"He did good," Kate agreed. "And he's a big name. It's a good book. And you should get some money for your kids. Please, just tell me if I make it out to you or the school if you don't want it."

"Let me think about it," Logan replied finally.

Kate nodded quickly. "Yeah, of course," she said. "If you want me to put it all in a trust fund for the kids, I can do that too. Just let me know."

"You just blindsided me," Logan admitted. "I wasn't expecting a dime. Not sure what to think."

"Right. Yeah. Gotta process, I get it," she said. "I just… I couldn't do what they did. I couldn't make money off of you guys. I've been saying that this whole time, but Logan, I  _meant_ it. So just… tell me when you figure it out. Whenever you're done processing."

"Have you seen Kurt?" he asked, clearly ready for a change of subject matter. Now.

"He's playing with Krissy and Sying," Kate said. "Jubes and Noh are still at gymnastics."

"Right," he said with a nod. "Tell him to meet me at Harry's, would ya?" He gave K a kiss and headed out, not really listening or paying attention to her response.

Kate stared after him for a moment before she let out all her breath. "Well, that went… about like I expected."

"Surprises, historically, are not good," K told her.

"Will you talk him down?" Kate asked. "I didn't mean to break your husband, I swear."

"He's not broken; he just can't believe anyone wants to hear about this crap," K told her honestly.

"It's a good story," Kate said.

"If you didn't live it," K pointed out.

"But that's not…" Kate sighed out all her breath. "That's not the point. People want to read it because you both are heroes now. It's… inspirational reading, honestly. Heroes out of the worst situations."

"No, but that's the point from his point of view," she said. "Once we got out of there, I can tell you the only thing on my mind was to put it in the rearview and try to never think about it again." She pointed at her own face. "Ten years in hiding."

"I know." Kate bit her lip. "Believe me; if it hadn't been for all the crap with the invasion and Congress… I'd've never pushed this story."

"No one would care still," she said. "And knowing how things work, give it a few months, and no one will care again."

"Yeah, most books peter out after six months," Kate agreed. "Give it a while. But you'll probably still get checks anyway — colleges, historians, that sort of thing. People that buy it because it's got JJ's name on it — or yours or Logan's — and never read it… But those are probably the biggest checks. The preorders and the initial rush." She ran a nervous hand through her hair. "I didn't mean to blindside you guys."

K shrugged. "That's what we get for not reading the paperwork ourselves."

"Matt thought it was a good gesture," Kate said with a small smirk.

"I'm sure he did," K agreed. "We just didn't know." She frowned a bit. "What kind of preorder numbers are you looking at? Copies."

"In the millions," Kate told her honestly. "Thus the six-figure check."

"Yeah. Don't ... tell him that, please."

"Okay." Kate adjusted her headband for a moment and bit her lip. "I meant what I said. About the inspirational reading. I hope he can get that someday — that we think he's amazing."

"Don't hold your breath," K replied. "It's pretty ingrained in the other direction." She leaned forward a bit. "It's all in the book."

"I've noticed," Kate agreed with a little sigh. "It's too bad. You'd think he'd figure out he's… I mean. He's the godfather to my baby girl  _and_ Nat's — and you're going to be godmother to this one," she said, resting a hand on her stomach before she seemed to realize what she'd said. "Oh. Crap. You didn't hear that. Kurt wanted to be there when I asked you."

"I'm sorry; I've gone temporarily deaf," K said before she signed out  _you are ridiculous._

Kate laughed. "It's been a day and a half," she said, shaking her head as she sat down on the edge of her desk. "I could use a burger," she said suddenly. "I really, really want a burger. Want to go with me?"

"Well. Annie's got my kids. Kurt has the other kids. Why not? We can go down to Harry's and rob Logan blind at the pool table."

Kate grinned and looped her arm through K's. "Sounds like a plan."


	15. Kurt Loves Love

For the first few weeks after the book launch, things were a little bit nuts, and the ferals were clearly withdrawing from all the attention. But about the time it started to settle down, it was time for the next big Bishop Publishing adventure.

Kate had been meticulous about setting up the red carpet premiere so that it coincided with Kamala's spring break so she could attend everything and get the praise and attention she deserved. So it was warm enough for some gorgeous dresses — and the two women were more than enjoying a nice spring day shopping.

"Now, it's gonna be more about the actors, but you were at school for the last one, so the press'll want to ask you questions about the first one  _and_ the sequel," Kate was saying as she tried on a purple high-waisted dress that nicely hid the very small bump she was showing off lately.

"You already told me this stuff," Kamala said. She was wearing a gorgeous red dress with golden embroidery up and down the arms that Kate was  _definitely_ going to buy for her.

"Yeah, but repetition is good for your soul," Kate said with a smirk.

"And for the nerves," Kamala agreed, chuckling.

"The cameras won't be on you too much. Like I said; the actors and actresses and the director will get most of it. But make sure Miles is ready for that kind of stuff. It'll be even more than the book launches you've dealt with."

Kamala giggled at that. "Do you think Kurt will give him this speech when we go out tomorrow for the big day?" she teased.

"Oh, probably," Kate agreed. "That poor kid is going to get all sorts of questions, because he's new."

"He's done Spidey stuff."

"Different without the mask," Kate said. "I mean, I wasn't secret for long because the registration thing happened right after I got started, but I remember the difference. The double life. It's different without the mask."

"Yeah, I know," Kamala said, quieter this time.

Kate tipped her head at Kamala. "I never did ask how your parents took it. I remember when the Young Avengers had to have that talk with our parents. I mean, I didn't do it, because of my dad, but… if they're upset, talk to Cassie."

"She's already offered, thanks," Kamala said. "They're okay. It was my brother that just about lost it when I told him, but it was getting way too hard to keep up the double life thing."

"Yeah, I know," Kate nodded before she smirked. "Big brothers can be protective. And almost as annoying as big sisters."

"Yeah, true that," Kamala agreed with a smirk Kate's way that had the older woman laughing outright.

"Speaking of — how's your schedule once the semester's over?" Kate asked. "Tuesday evenings still open for you for some one-on-one training with Wolverine?"

Kamala dropped her chin down, both eyebrows raised as she stared at Kate. "Yeah, they're open, but—"

"Great. Perfect. That's what I thought," Kate said with a decisive nod that was meant both for the scheduling and for the dresses they were wearing. "I think I'll buy this one — what do you think?"

Kamala thought for a hot second about trying to argue the point, but she'd been dealing with Kate long enough to know that it was pretty much a lost cause. "Yeah, it looks good on you," she said at last.

"I like that one on you too," Kate said. "Let's get these, and we'll knock the breath out of both of our boys."

Kamala just had to laugh and nod, since when Kate was on a roll like this, there was really nothing else that she could do.

* * *

The next day, at the red carpet premiere in LA, Kate had hired a limo for all four of the superheroes at the event to arrive together. Both Miles and Kurt looked great in their tuxes, but as Kate had predicted, when she and Kamala were finished getting ready and came out of the hotel room dressed for their LA debut, the boys were left rather speechless.

"Look, Kamala. It's your biggest fan," Kate teased, tipping her head at Miles before she slipped over to give her husband a warm kiss.

Miles shifted a bit and offered Kamala his arm. "You really do look nice," he told her, and she beamed at him.

"Well, what say you, Elf?" Kate asked, threading Kurt's arm with hers. "Shall we face the dangerous red carpet?"

"We'll show these charlatans how it's done," Kurt replied before he kissed her hand with a grin.

With that, they led the way down to the limo, which had Miles going a bit wide-eyed again as he realized they were traveling in such style. His leg was bouncing nervously the closer they got to the huge premiere and the more he could see of the crowds and flashing lights.

"I promise they don't bite," Kate assured him. "Just do your best to look like you don't even notice them."

"If they're too troublesome, I'll give you an exit they'll never forget," Kurt promised.

Miles looked a bit relieved at that. "Okay. Good. Good to have an exit plan," he said, nodding several times over.

"You've taken on invasion fleets and Asgardians — and  _this_ is what has you all nervous?" Kamala teased him, trying to lighten the mood as she squeezed his hand.

"Don't forget the clones," Kurt said low over her shoulder with a teasing grin.

"Oh lord, the clones," Kamala said, shaking her head. "That was… that was just  _mean_."

"They were creepy. I stand by that scream. It was totally and completely necessary for the situation," Miles said.

"I'm so sorry I missed that," Kurt said before he turned to Kate. "Lead the way, my lady."

She grinned at him and kissed the tip of his nose before she stepped out of the limo with him, grinning brilliantly and looking positively dashing. Both of them looked like they'd stepped out of the silver screen — and the Avengers behind them were doing their best to copy their moves, even though Miles was not doing anything better than his best impression of not-a-nervous-college-student.

"Is he old enough to give a shot of whiskey to?" Kurt asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Just barely," Kate replied just as quietly. "I had some in the limo to try and tempt him, but he tries not to even touch it."

"He'll never calm down on his own," Kurt said. "But I know how to handle this." He looked over his shoulder for just an instant. "Once we get inside."

"That's what I love about you," she said, holding onto him a bit tighter. "You know how to get things done."

He grinned her way and didn't hesitate to give her a kiss as they continued on their way, to a few whistles from the gathered crowd that had her smirking against his mouth.

The two X-Men stayed close to the younger heroes as they dealt with the press and all the questions and autographs typical of an event like this. Miles kept looking progressively more nervous, but Kamala seemed to have hit her stride. Her eyes lit up with excitement at the chance to talk about her passions, her book, her characters, and everything else.

"She's a movie star," Kate said with obvious pride in Kurt's ear, and he just had to grin at her.

Miles almost jumped out of his skin when Kate and Kurt got a bit closer, and Kurt put a steadying hand on his back as they headed inside to watch the premiere. Kamala stifled a laugh at the little noise Miles made and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"You did good," she promised.

"You stayed upright," Kate said with a little muted smirk.

"And there were no suspicious fellows looking your way," Kurt said, though he looked slightly suspicious as he pretended to look through the crowd. "That you saw."

"Between a spider and a hawk  _and_ Miss Marvel and Nightcrawler?" Kate kissed his cheek. "I think we're covered, handsome."

"Quite true," Kurt agreed. "But if it's all the same to you girls, I'd like to borrow Miles for a moment."

"We'll try not to let anyone cuter than you hit on us," Kate teased. "Not that it's possible to be cuter than you."

"It's really not," Kurt agreed with a grin.

"You guys are ridiculous," Kamala laughed. She shook her head and squeezed Miles' hand again. "Have fun,' she told him before the nervous young man followed Kurt into the hall.

Kurt led Miles a bit deeper into the building with one hand on his shoulder as they navigated through the crowd to make his way to the bar. Miles seemed to almost let out a breath as they came to a stop so far from the flashing lights of the cameras outside. He was so relieved to be away from the spotlight that he didn't really hear it when Kurt ordered two whiskeys. He didn't really register it when he slid the shot in front of him all the way up until Kurt spoke.

"Drink it," he said. "Right now, all at once, just do it."

"I don't really…"

"You need to," Kurt told him. "I'm not saying you need to get drunk, but this will certainly take the edge off. Just this one."

"I'm okay," Miles tried to argue. "Really. It's just a little disorienting with all the lights and the noise and the everything. Spidey senses..."

"Be happy my best friend isn't here, or I'm reasonably sure he'd hold you down and pour it down your throat," Kurt said, with a smile that didn't entirely look reassuring. "Drink it."

Mile looked at the shot sideways before he picked it up and examined it.

"Just throw it back; don't taste it," Kurt advised. "I won't ask you to do a second one." With that, Kurt picked up his glass, raised it Miles' way, and raised both eyebrows. "Observe." He did exactly as he was telling Miles — quick, easy and over in a few seconds.

Miles took a deep breath and did just that, eye screwed tightly shut, though he didn't quite make it through without pulling a horrible,  _horrible_ face. Kurt rubbed his back as he cringed. "Is this some kind of punishment?" he said, still not quite unscrewing his face.

"Not in the least," Kurt promised. "But if you give it a few minutes, you'll find your nerves should ease up a bit."

"You really don't have to do this," Miles said. "I can handle it. It's just a red carpet. In LA. With lots of people. But I'm totally fine."

"Which is exactly why I had to do this," Kurt said before he gestured to the people around them. "Are you comfortable? No. Of course not. You're doing a wonderful job supporting Kamala, but you need to relax before you start screaming and running around in circles. I'm reasonably sure that's not the kind of press the girls want to attract."

"I was just gonna do the screaming later. Swing around the city," Miles admitted as he turned the glass over in his hands.

"That's fine later, but right now, you really did need this," Kurt said before he tipped his head to the side a bit. It had been almost five minutes. "Are you more or less nervous?"

Miles had to pause and consider it. "I… think less?" he offered. "Sitting is helpful."

"Sitting is not what is helping you," Kurt said before he laid a bill on the bar and led Miles back toward the girls.

"How long will this last?" Miles asked after a moment of silence.

"It should get us through the worst of it," Kurt said softly. "Maybe an hour if we're lucky."

"So it won't last through til we get home?" He almost sounded disappointed.

"No, not just the one shot," Kurt replied. "But you are welcome to have more if you need it. I'd be more than happy to drink with you."

"I… I don't want to be drunk when… never mind. I'll figure out some other time."

"When what?" Kurt asked. "Maybe I can help."

"I was thinking maybe, if I screw up enough courage… Never mind. It's okay."

"Miles," Kurt said giving him a look. "What is it?"

"I just ... Iboughtaring," he said in a rush.

Kurt looked a bit surprised for just a moment, but then the grin began to set in. "No, you don't need any alcohol for that," he agreed.

"Right. I just ... yeah. No alcohol for that. I thought maybe … I tried to work up the nerve before we left. I mean, I talked to her family  _ages_ ago. But I just… She's a  _movie star_. And I'm just this dorky kid."

"She's the same girl she was before," Kurt said with a kind smile. "I'd tell you how I proposed, but that won't help you at all."

"She was a movie star back then too," Miles said.

"And with all the movie stars she's met — and all the famous people and other superheroes — she asked  _you_  to join her," Kurt pointed out. "That means something, doesn't it?"

"I sure hope so." Miles took a deep breath. "What if she says no?"

"Then you find out why and likely ask again when she seems ready," Kurt said. "But I don't think that's what is going to happen."

"Right." Miles clenched his hands in fists and took a deep breath. "Doesn't exactly help the red carpet nerves with this kinda thing. Sorry I'm a goon."

"Then we'll change the subject," Kurt said. "And instead try to simply enjoy the evening with a pair of beautiful women."

"I think I can do that," Miles agreed as he followed Kurt back to where the two ladies were winning over the attention of everyone in their circle of influence. They really were stunning, and Miles stopped when he saw them. "Movie stars," he repeated under his breath.

When the girls saw them, they didn't waste any time in rushing over to pull their guys by the arm. "Hey cutie. How'd the boys' talk go?" Kate teased as she stood on her toes to give Kurt a quick kiss.

"Better than you'd think," Kurt replied after she'd curled into him a bit closer. "He has more than red carpet nerves."

Kate raised an eyebrow and half dragged him off by the hand — sure that Kamala and Miles wouldn't notice because Kamala was in deep conversation with the movie director about the next one  _already_.

"Alright, spill. You have that 'I have a secret' face on," she said with a smirk.

"I think that look is charming on me," he replied loftily.

"It is. So very," she agreed with a little grin as she draped both arms over his shoulders to pull him in for a longer kiss. "Share with your wife, charming boy."

"This … is kind of important," Kurt said as he wrapped his arms around her. "And I'm not entirely sure it's a secret I should tell anyone."

"That just makes me want to know more," Kate laughed, pulling him a bit closer.

"I know it does, doesn't it?" Kurt grinned.

"Your demon is showing," she teased him, starting to play with his curls between her fingers.

"The surrounding company must be drawing it out," he teased.

She laughed outright and kissed him again. "Touche," she said, still grinning. "But it's not like you to blend in."

He let out a dramatic sigh. "No, that is sadly quite true," he replied before he leaned in very close to her ear and whispered to her what he'd learned.

To her credit, she didn't outright squeal or openly celebrate in such a public place, but she did let out a delighted giggle and pulled him to her for a long celebratory kiss. When it broke, she was still grinning. "We've got to get those two alone."

"And out of the public eye when that happens," Kurt said.

"Oh, definitely," she agreed quickly. "Let the gossip columnist write about our public displays of affection. Those cute kids get privacy and, like, the best engagement party ever."

"He needs to work up the nerve first," Kurt said.

"That explains why he seemed even more nervy than usual. I thought it was just the enhanced senses. Spidey gets overloaded sometimes too," she said, shaking her head.

"All of them with enhanced senses do — so perhaps we should gently direct them elsewhere?"

Kate glanced around the party. "This thing'll wind down in another hour or so. Think he can make it that long?" She grinned impishly. "Or do you want a more dramatic exit?"

"Always a more dramatic exit," he said as if the thought of leaving in a simpler manner was an insult to his sensibilities.

"I knew it," she laughed. She looked to where Kamala was and grinned. "We'll wait until Kamala's done being a movie star. Let her have her moment — and then let her have her fairy tale."

The party continued for a while after that, and Miles definitely did look less nervous after talking with Kurt. It was easy to see that he was less dazzled by the party than by Kamala, though, and both Kate and Kurt spend most of the evening sharing little smirks and smiles the more they caught Miles staring at Kamala.

But Kurt's dramatic sensibilities wouldn't let them stay around when the party started to wind down. As soon as the glamor started to fade, he gave the four of them an exit that was sure to be reported in the papers later as they all vanished in a poof of blue smoke to reappear in the limo and drive off to start the journey back to their hotel — with Kamala giggling excitedly over the whole experience the entire time.

Kate made sure to have the driver pull around so they could have a little more privacy when they got to the hotel, and they teleported up to the room as Kamala finished telling her story about a fan at the red carpet line who wanted her to sign her book.

"She was, like, ten and adorable. Best part of the night by  _far_ ," Kamala said as soon as the smoke had cleared.

"All the kids love you," Kate teased. "Favorite babysitter, favorite kids' book writer… you're a superhero in so many ways."

"Have you met Kate, my hype woman?" Kamala laughed, gesturing to Kate as both of the men in the room laughed.

"She can't help it," Kurt said. "She just does it automatically."

"Only with the good ones," Kate said with a smile. She wrapped Kamala up in a hug and took a step back. "How's that adrenaline high?" she teased.

"Oh, is that was this is?" Kamala laughed.

"Kinda fun, isn't it?" Kate agreed. She snagged Kurt around the waist and pulled him over to her, nestling her nose into the small of his back. "I need some LA ice cream. It's a craving," she told Kurt, muffled by his shirt.

"Your wish is my command," Kurt muttered before he glanced over to the young couple. "We'll bring you back something — but don't wait up."

"Yeah, I want to take this one to the beach to watch the stars," Kate said, still hugging Kurt around the waist and nestled into him so that she could hide the smirk she was wearing. With that, Kurt and Kate disappeared in a poof of blue, leaving the two young heroes alone in the hotel room.

Miles shook his head hard at the X-Men's antics, glad that Kamala was still riding a bit of a high from the premiere and didn't seem to notice. "So... "

She kicked her shoes off and fell backward onto the couch, still grinning at the world at large. "Did you have fun at least?" she asked.

"I always have fun with you!" he assured her. "I've never seen that many movie stars up close before. How do you do it?"

"First time I met them, I actually didn't realize I'd met them until after," Kamala admitted, looking embarrassed. "I thought it was just a normal meeting — and then after they left? Kate told me who they were." She laughed. "I totally didn't even recognize them. How crazy is that?"

"Guess they're just normal people," Miles said with a sideways smirk. "Imagine that."

"I know, right?" She grinned up at him from the couch. "Sure you had fun? You're still pacing like we just got back from a mission."

"I'm okay," he assured her.

She tipped her head to the side for just a second. "Okay, if you say so," she said. "I think I'm going to change really quick. Then … movie time?"

"Wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait." He held up both hands to stop her from moving. "Wait. Um. Don't move. Stay right there in your movie star dress and the LA glow and… wait right there."

"Okay. I'll be right here."

"Good. Good." He bounced from one foot to the other. "I'll be  _right back_." He dashed over to the other room where his suitcase was and came back with both hands clasped firmly behind his back as he kicked his foot against his ankle. "So-o-o-o-o," he said, breathing out the whole word in one go. "I… had this idea of maybe getting you some jewelry for that dress of yours. Only I didn't give it to you before. Because I'm an idiot. And… I was sorta thinking since it was supposed to look good with your red carpet outfit, maybe I'd give it to you anyway while you still look nice?"

"O-kay," she said, watching him as she sat up a little straighter. "Sure. Okay."

He kicked his heel with his foot again almost like he was spurring himself forward before he half hopped forward and then, somehow, got to the couch. "Okay. So." He took a deep breath but completely fell short of any words that he might have had. So he gave up on words and just pulled out the ring box to pop it open, one eye squeezed shut as he waited for the realization to hit her as to what he was doing.

"What did I do to deserve that? It's really  _really_ pretty." Kamala was grinning outright, and it was pretty obvious she was cluing in, but she was reluctant to say anything if she was wrong.

"D'youwannagetmarriedtome?" The whole phrase came out at once like it had burst out of him, and he took another shaky breath. "Do you want to get married? To me?" he asked again, much slower. "I mean — would you? Marry me, that is?" When Kamala was still taking a second to grin at him, the floodgates opened. "Because I just — I really love you, and I think you're amazing and I know I'm such a dork springing this one you and I probably should have thought this through better and—"

She leaned forward and kissed him before she nodded.

"Oh. Great!" He took a deep breath and nodded back, several times. "Great. That's really good. That's ... okay. That's really, really good. I'm just…" He paused and looked down at the ring box. "Okay. I'm gonna put this on your hand now. Is that okay?" She just smiled and laughed, and he quickly slipped the ring onto her finger.

* * *

As if Kurt wasn't already walking on air, when he and Kate got back from the press tour and from celebrating with Kamala and Miles, they only had a few days to get their breath before Kurt got to get involved in yet another love story.

It was, to the X-Men's estimation as a whole, a long time coming when Storm and Forge finally decided to tie the knot — and just about everyone who had ever been on the team came out to celebrate with them.

There was, of course, a sleepover with the goddess before the wedding. It was an absolute requirement. And every one of the ladies made sure to lavish their attention on Storm. After all, she had done the same for each of them at one point or another — it was only fair to return the favor.

For a lot of the older X-Men, that meant plenty of regaling stories of how everyone had known when Storm and Forge were together that they were, as Jubilee put it, "the cutest thing ever," but Kate was a bit quieter about her thoughts on the matter.

It wasn't until most of the others were asleep, spread out across the floor of Storm's attic, that Storm found Kate's note:

_I didn't want to take the attention away from anyone else, but I wanted to remind you that this is what you wanted, just in case you're a little nervous._

_You taught me what marriage is and what love means. You helped me to see that I needed to take the plunge and ignore everything my head was saying in favor of listening to my heart. Now, I'm just tickled that you're finally listening to your own advice._

_The Goddess and The Maker. Seriously. You two are the best._

_-Kate_

Storm smiled when she read the note and then tucked it away neatly, smiling fondly at the various women heroes spread out in her attic. She loved every one of the girls there, and she was glad that she'd listened to Forge's advice. This would have been a far different affair if they'd simply run off; she was glad that her friends were here for her.

* * *

The next morning, no one was surprised when the weather was absolutely perfect for the wedding. After all, no weather goddess worth her salt was going to get married in anything but clear skies at sunrise so that everyone could see the display of colors Mother Nature was putting on.

Even as early as everyone had to wake up, it was clear the gathered group couldn't think of anything they'd rather be doing. Especially since, for the families with little kids, they were often up this early anyway. And seeing as any of the kids who were awake enough not to be grumpy about it were invited to throw flowers, they were having a good time.

Storm's white dress looked amazing, and the cape-like veil was almost a natural extension of her white hair. Everything flowed perfectly — which was more than enough to leave Forge a bit speechless before he let out a wolf whistle without thinking about it. Which, of course, had Storm laughing.

And Kurt was practically preening over his role in the wedding, too. "That," he said softly enough that only those closest to him could hear it, "is our goddess." When Forge grinned even wider, Kurt chuckled and then cleared his throat to get the attention of the gathered group.

"We are gathered here this morning to celebrate a union of love and life that we have long waited to see come to fruition," he declared, shooting Storm in particular a smirk that she completely ignored in favor of holding both of Forge's hands in hers. "But I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all know nothing could stand in the way of these two. It would be like moving against the forces of nature."

Storm and Forge both had to chuckle at that before Kurt prompted them to carry on with their vows, and Forge broke into a grin as he leaned over to kiss Storm first and foremost. "I've always thought you were the most beautiful goddess, and that's only truer as time goes on. And now you're mine. I'm pretty lucky."

"And I am lucky too," Storm said warmly. "They may call me a force of nature, but you are a force unto yourself. My Maker." When she simply beamed at Forge, Kurt gave them the go-ahead, and the two of them shared a kiss that turned a bit longer as the wind swirled around them and picked them up a few feet.

Once they were back down on the ground, there was of course a mobbing of hugs and congratulations before everyone went out into the gardens for the wedding breakfast.

"Of course, this is just the first part of the day," Storm told Kurt with a smile when he made sure to grab her in a hug and then kiss her cheek. "We plan to disappear for a few weeks, and Forge has promised to show me how weddings go in his tribe. But we wanted a ceremony with all of our friends — and with my little brother conducting it."

"And you wanted to extend the celebrations as much as possible," Kurt teased.

"Well, why not?" she replied. "You said yourself that this has been a long time in the making; why not celebrate long and hard?"

"You make an excellent point," Kurt agreed before he kissed the back of her hand and took a step back. "But if that's the case, then I'm keeping you from your new husband unnecessarily."

Storm laughed at that. "Yes. How uncharacteristically rude of you."

"I must be slipping," Kurt chuckled, flashing Storm an impish grin before he disappeared in a puff of blue smoke and reappeared beside Kate, kissing her cheek and then tickling Krissy in Kate's arms.

"You love this, don't you?" Kate laughed.

Kurt grinned a little wider at her and kissed her fully. "Of course I do," he said, wrapping his tail around her. "I want nothing but happiness for those I love."

"I know," she said, then kissed him back. "It's a good thing, then, that things are looking up for our whole family, isn't it?"

"Absolutely," he agreed before he pulled her into a much longer kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! The Next Volume is entitled "A House Divided Is Ticked Off" and will be up before you know it!


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